Comedian Louie Anderson Stocks Salvation Army Food Shelves

Comedian Louie Anderson paid a visit to the West 7th Salvation Army in St. Paul Sept. 25 (photos) to deliver food from Second Harvest Heartland, the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization and a key supplier of food distributed by The Salvation Army.  

Anderson’s visit was filmed by the TV show Twin Cities Live (see video). He was guest host of the show Oct. 1 – 2 and devoted part of his air time to encouraging the public to donate food for people in need.

During his visit to the West 7th Salvation Army he interviewed Captain Lisa Mueller, administrator of the facility.

“This is where the vast majority of the (food) you brought from Second Harvest goes,” she told him, while inside the facility’s food shelf. “We feed about 400 families a month.”

“Nobody’s turned away?” he asked.

“Nobody’s turned away,” she affirmed. “Having access to this food (from Second Harvest) is a godsend.”

Anderson grew up in Minnesota with a large family that at times received food assistance from The Salvation Army.

“I was always really touched by the fact that someone who didn’t know us was giving us something,” he said.

Although Anderson knows hunger is a serious topic, he still managed to crack jokes during his visit with The Salvation Army.   

“We used to get food shelf stuffs (from The Salvation Army) when I was a kid living in the projects – but we never got donuts,” quipped Anderson, pointing to a box of dunkers donated earlier in the day by Lunds grocery stores.