The alleged Feeding Our Future Scandal: Dogs barking edition

One of the more amazing elements of the free food alleged scandal is how little outcry there has been in the community. If the now-suspended nonprofits were serving meals to hundreds of thousands of Minnesota children every day, their sudden absence should have created some ripples.

On March 14, KSTP (ABC-5) aired a story about one St. Paul food shelf that finds itself on the short end of the scandal—

A food shelf on St. Paul’s East Side has shuttered its doors after a sponsor organization had funding frozen, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned.

KSTP reports that House of Refuge Outreach had their source of funding cut off when the state Department of Education (MDE) suspended their sponsor organization, Partners in Nutrition (d/b/a Partners in Qualify Care), in the wake of FBI raids on the related nonprofit Feeding Our Future in January. Not one person has been arrested or charged in the alleged scandal.

Shuttered doors may be overstating the case a bit. House of Refuge’s Facebook page has been advertising a “massive distribution” of food and necessities for March 19. A Facebook entry dated March 15 notes that distribution of “student meals” has stopped, but they hope to resume soon. The same post says that the food shelf continues to be open every Wednesday and Saturday.

The Facebook page for the organization was created April 27, 2021.

MDE’s database lists House of Refuge Outreach as a distribution site for Partners in Nutrition capable of serving up to 2,500 children per day, under the Federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The listed capacity is up from the previous fiscal year’s capacity of 2,000 per day.

Unmentioned by Channel 5 is that the nonprofit House of Refuge is also listed as a distribution site for the now-dissolved nonprofit Feeding Our Future, under the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The listed capacity is 3,000 children per day, for both breakfast and lunch.

According to records held by the Minnesota Secretary of State, House of Refuge Outreach was first incorporated July 23, 2021.