DULUTH, Minn. — The Duluth Cheerios Challenge was good luck this week. The challenge was devised by citizens in reaction to billionaire Kathy Cargill’s rude comments to the Wall Street Journal that Mayor Roger Reinert “peed on his Cheerios” when he questioned her intentions on the matter. to a series of land purchases in Park Point.
Organized said the concept of the challenge was to show that the other people of Duluth are big-minded and big-hearted, not “petty,” as Cargill also told the WSJ.
In the end, more than 800 boxes of cereal and $50,000 were raised for the food departments.
“I think when it came to life, we were pretty excited and it was fun,” Katie Hagglund said of Union Gospel Mission. “As it started to grow, it became a really lovely thing to see the network come together with anything [like this. ]
The Union Gospel Mission, The Salvation Army, Chum and Damiano are feeding or distributing more food this year. The organizers of the challenge were pleased with this outpouring of kindness.
“I think we expected to see boxes of Cheerios and donations. We didn’t think that $50,000 would be donated in six days and that more than 800 boxes of Cheerios would be possible,” said Kate Van Daele, organizer of the Challenge.
Food cravings and the price of food have increased dramatically. “We see twice as many visitors as we do today. In 2023, we served 3,100, and in 2024, we served nearly 5,900 meals. And so we see the number of visitors double and food prices double. It’s hard to work with an organization and determine where that investment is coming from,” Hagglund explained.
Funding and food came from a wide diversity of Americans and groups, both locally and nationally. “The firefighters arrive with boxes of cereal, we see pensioners who wanted to come and donate a box because it affected them. “”You see teachers donating $1,000 to some organizations,” Van Daele said.
At the end of the press conference, when the four organizations that had the most took their 200 boxes, they packed up their cars and set off to help feed others in need.