Open Arms of Minnesota opens new St. Paul site to offer more meals

After nearly four decades in Minneapolis, Open Arms of Minnesota is opening a second facility in St. Paul on Jan. 3, allowing the nonprofit to boost the number of free meals it serves to people with life-threatening illnesses in 2023.

For the first time, Open Arms will expand to serve people in western Wisconsin and expects to top 1.5 million meals dished out in 2023, up from 1.3 million meals in 2021.

"This space will help us serve more people," CEO Leah Hébert Welles said. "This will be huge for us."

Construction started last January on the shipping and distribution center, renovating a former office building near the St. Paul Downtown Airport. Because of supply shortages, construction took longer than expected, pushing out the initial October opening.

The project, which cost about $4 million, was funded by a $6.8 million capital campaign that's also paying for improvements to Open Arms' Minneapolis headquarters. Staff members have already started testing out the new commercial kitchen in St. Paul and preparing for volunteers to arrive Jan. 3, Hébert Welles said.

"When I started here 10 years ago, I would never have been able to expect how much Open Arms would grow," she said. "We're just incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community."

The new site gives Open Arms more office space and freezers to store meals, including the nonprofit's largest freezer, which can store more than 60,000 meals at a time.

For years, Open Arms served only Twin Cities residents. That changed two years ago, when the nonprofit extended its service area outside the metro area, shipping frozen meals statewide to seriously ill people, 80% of whom are low-income.

The number of people served by Open Arms has been on the rise, especially during the pandemic when home-delivered meals became a lifeline for those with COVID or at high risk of complications. No other organization in Minnesota offers free, medically tailored, locally prepared meals developed by registered dietitians, Hébert Welles said.

"COVID really magnified the need," she added.

The St. Paul facility is hosting a public open house, offering tours, activities and volunteer information, from 2 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 4 at 380 E. Lafayette Frontage Road.