Cologne food shelf to move downtown

The Cologne food shelf marked its first anniversary this month with a pancake breakfast/food drive served by the Cologne Lions, and is already slated to move to a new location next month.

The food shelf was established in Cologne last July by the Chaska organization Bountiful Basket to bring more food resource options to the Cologne area and western portions of Carver County, according to Patti Sinykin, executive director.

Bountiful Basket had been in discussion about expanding to Cologne for about a year with leaders at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church. The location selected is in a portion of that parish’s vacated school. The school closed in 2015 and church leaders had been exploring options to re-purpose the building space. The partnership came together in the spring of 2023, and organizers and volunteers completed a painting and remodeling project by summer to turn a portion of the basement cafeteria into a grocery shopping area.

The Cologne food shelf caught on quickly.

The food shelf provided services to total of 23 food recipients the first month it opened. One year later, that number has jumped to 232 – a 10-fold increase.

With growth, also comes a change.

“As we grow, it became clear that a real retail environment would be more beneficial to those we serve as well as easier for our volunteers to unload our food deliveries and stock shelves,” Sinykin said in an announcement to volunteers.

The new location, which could open as soon as the beginning of August, is in downtown Cologne at 102 Lake Street. That building has served as a gas station and also a liquor store before being vacated. In fact, the shelves from that store are coming back as owners of the building work to get it ready for the Cologne food shelf.

Sinykin called St. Bernard’s “a great place to test the waters and get started,” and thanked parish leaders and other supporters instrumental in the success of the Cologne food shelf.

“In our work, it always feels bittersweet celebrating our success as that also means that our neighbors are struggling,” she said. “But as long as our neighbors need us, we will continue to greet them with smiles, dignity and a whole lot of good healthy food!”

Meanwhile, St. Bernard’s leaders are again exploring other options for the parish school.