© 2017 CROSS Center

Please make a donation to the CROSS Center. Any amount is greatly appreciated.

320-968-7012

Email Us

Cross Center of

Benton Co, MN

150 Fourth Ave.

P.O. Box 205

Foley, MN 56329

Mondays:

1pm-4pm, 6pm-8pm

Thursdays:

10am-3pm

Other Local Services

FARE FOR ALL
Resurrection Lutheran Church
610 County Road 2

St. Joseph, MN
Open to everyone, sells packages of fruits, vegetables, and frozen meats. 3:30 - 5:30 on Monday night -see website for schedule and prices.  

 www.fareforall.org  

1-800-582-4291

FARE FOR ALL

Salem Lutheran Church 90 Riverside Dr. SE, St. Cloud, MN 56329    Dates for 2016:  

Sept 12, Oct 3,

Nov 7, Dec 5.  

(same choices and prices as the St. Joe one)

RUBY'S PANTRY

  in Ramey, MN
Bethany Lutheran Church
34238  Nature Rd
Pierz, MN  56364
 
2nd Wednesdayof the month
Distribution

5:00-6:30pm 

$20 for each unit of food.  Bring empty containers for your food.

Welcome to The CROSS Center

NEWS

• Thank you to Melissa and Grace for all their work in organizing the School supply program again this year. Bags of school supplies were given to 80 students. That is a big job to get those bags ready!

• CROSS will again have the two Christmas programs offered to our clients and we are asking for the support of the community. The Giving Trees are up in the local banks and family envelopes are available for sponsors to choose. So far (Dec14) there are close to 45 families to be sponsored and we will continue to have more until the first week of December. Thank you to everyone who is willing to sponsor a family, it makes such a big difference for them.

• The other Holiday program is the Toy Distribution. I have heard some Holiday office parties are doing a toy collection for CROSS. That is a wonderful idea and it does help us have a nice variety of toys for the families to choose from. There are collection boxes around town for toys also. It is important to have more toys than we need, so that there is always enough. We want that last family that comes in to still have good choices and not leftovers. The distribution is on December 15, Saturday, the Friday before (14th) is set up time and that is fun for many who help and quite the production. If you or your youth group would like to help, give us a call. Many hands make light work!!

• A couple months ago, CROSS received a new produce cooler, it has been a wonderful addition to the CROSS. Because of it, more people are getting more produce on a regular bases. That means healthy eating! Our electric bill is always high (~$700)because of the big cooler and freezer but the new cooler has not made much difference so that is good.

• CROSS has been able to offer a good variety of produce. Area gardens have supplied us well, Coborns is giving us wonderful variety and we are set up with Second Harvest food bank to ship us 3 varieties, by the case, two times a month. Good healthy food we are able to offer all our clients and with no limits, they can take all they can use. Good food helps people be healthier and less Doctor visits. Also a big thank you for several donations of beef and pork from area farmers. These are donations we do not want to miss and thankful for the big freezer at CROSS. These donations come to us through the local meat processing plants. We can not accept donations from private freezers.

• Joan has done it again, bless her big heart. She is donating 1,000 tooth brushes to CROSS. That is wonderful, Joan. No one should ever have to share her tooth brush with a brother! We have such a big need for personal care items and as soon as we get some donated, they just fly off the shelves (even with limits per family). Still needed would be tooth paste, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, etc. Thank you again Joan and everyone else who has been helping with this need.

• November 15, Thursday is Give to the Max day. If you missed it, you can always donate through our web site, foleycrosscenter.org for every dollar we spend on food , at the food bank, we will get about 10 dollars worth of food. We also have the other bill, Utility, which has to be paid every month too(no salaries here yet). We need the support of the community and thank you for your help.

• St. John's Catholic Church did a coat drive and they were delivered on Monday --- 7 bags of clean coats, wonderful!! Thank you

• Thank you to everyone who contributes and those who do the heavy lifting. Yes, we can buy food very reasonably at the food bank, but we can not beat FREE!! We recognize that for some it is more meaningful to bring us a bag of groceries and we accept that, and we get more variety through a food drive. The most recent food drive was the NHS Halloween food drive, which brought us 1648 pounds of food. That was one big pile of food here at CROSS. That was great and shows great community support. Thank you.

• CROSS would like of offer a delivery service to the community, we are just getting it organized. We plan to offer delivery on the 2nd Monday of the month. If you know anyone who is house bound or need transportation and help with their groceries from the food shelf, and needs food, please share this information with them.

• Donations can be sent to CROSS, PO Box 205, Foley MN.  56329
• Questions ? Call during our open hours:  Monday 1-4, 6-8;  Thursday 10-3 Phone:  968-7012

 

• We would like to stress the importance of personal care items. Our shelves are looking bare and they need to be filled with items like tooth paste, tooth brushes, deodorant, shampoo, bath soap, hand soap, etc.. Many people come in looking for these items and it would be very beneficial if they had a selection to chose from.

• The CROSS Center is looking for volunteers. There have been several days when we have been short staffed. Any help is appreciated. For more information email us at crosscenter@hotmail.com.

• Remember to bring your donations in during CROSS open hours and knock on the door if it is locked. If you have a large donation, please let us know ahead of time when it is coming. Everything that we cannot use or has been rotated off the shelves is recycled and nothing will be thrown away. However, if donations are left outside the building and they get wet or smelly, we cannot bring them inside and they must be tossed. Please bring your donations during open hours, Monday 1-4, 6-8; Thursday 10-3.

Thank you for all you do to help us serve others in Benton County.

What We Need Today: Dec 2nd .

Toothpaste, Deodorant, Bath Soap, Body Wash, Shampoo,  Paper Towels, Kleenex, Popcorn, Cream of Chicken Soup, Apple Sauce, and Sloppy Joe Sauce.

Monetary donations are always welcome as well. Your dollars go further when we buy at the food bank.

What We're About ...

This web site seeks to introduce you to the work and ministry of the C.R.O.S.S. Center in Benton County. It is our hope to acquaint you with the reasons for its existence, the resources it provides and the opportunities YOU are afforded to make a loving and significant difference in the lives of many of your neighbors who find themselves in a time of real crisis or need. Through a dedication to ongoing education, commitment, partnership and resourcing, the C.R.O.S.S. Center seeks to develop a growing awareness of the basic needs around us for food and clothing; to generate a passion to address those needs with compassion, love and care; to foster a willingness to partner together to accomplish much more than would otherwise be possible; and to challenge one another to each do our part to provide the best resources possible, to serve those in need through volunteers who truly care, and to support clients with what it takes to meet their real emergency needs. Whether you find yourself in the role of donor, volunteer or recipient - the ministry of the C.R.O.S.S. Center seeks to address real needs with compassion, integrity and a loving response. To that end, I hope you will join with us and play your part in making a real difference in the lives of those in need!

C.R.O.S.S. Mission: To provide encouragement and assistance to residents of Benton County who are experiencing short-term difficulties in meeting their basic needs for food and clothing.  Assistance is provided regardless of race, color or creed for those who qualify.

CROSS of Benton County serves all low income persons living in Benton county including persons with disabilities to the best of our ability.

"America is the richest country in the world.  And yet tonight, thousands of your neighbors will go to bed hungry.  It may be your child's schoolmate who is undernourished and has difficulty learning on an empty stomach.  Or it could be a co-worker, a working mother whose low-wage job doesn't make ends meet.  Perhaps it's an elderly neighbor who has to make a decision whether to delay filling a prescription or buying groceries.  The faces of hunger are as broad as the faces of America."

                               David Jasby, General Mills