2023 Vol 17, Issue 4 August Gem Lake News

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Gem Lake News Page 5 of 6 The White Bear Area Food Shelf Seeks Your Help The City of Gem Lake is proud to be a regular contributor to the White Bear Area Food Shelf. These contributions are made possible by the city’s portion of charitable gambling income that occurs within city limits. The need for the services provided by the White Bear Food Shelf are enormous and growing. The City Council received a report from the Executive Director of the organization, Perry Peterson, at the June 18 City Council meeting. According to Peterson’s report, the food shelf doubled the number of people served from 2018 to 2022 and now serves 2,821 households each month. “That is a 28% increase over the prior year,“ says Peterson. Due to high demand from the public, the food shelf has expanded the ways they provide services. “We now provide fresh and healthy groceries five days a week through curbside, delivery and mobile programs. The food shelf also provides 300 Kid Packs and food pantries in schools each week. We do this because one in eight kids in Minnesota don’t know where their next meal is coming from.” Peterson thanked the city council of Gem Lake for their regular and generous support of their efforts. Due to rising demands for food services, the food shelf is looking to open a second location that would allow in person shopping by those in need. Peterson also added that the White Bear Area Food Shelf is always looking for volunteers to help with a variety of activities. Conditions were poor during the mid-February survey, which prompted the re-survey of certain areas in early March. The early March conditions were fair to poor in certain areas. Survey conditions should be taken into consideration when making management decisions. According to Ramsey County’s survey taken in March for Gem Lake 23 deer were counted, one of the highest in the area. Labore Road Resurfacing The surface layer on Labore Road between County Road E and Goose Lake Road will be removed and replaced with new, smooth pavement in 2023. There will be no cost to property owners for this project. The project will also include ditch cleaning and restriping to match what is there currently. Land surveying crews were and will be working in the project area before, during and immediately after construction. Timeline Work was expected to start the week of July 10th. No expected end date has been given for this work. MNNR Railroad crossing reconstruction was set to begin July 12th and was expected to last for one week. Traffic Impact Road is closed at the railroad crossing. A signed detour is in place using Goose Lake Road, County Road E and Centerville Road. To receive text or email updates you can go visit the Ramsey County website and subscribe to the 2023 road project updates. Ramsey County Deer Survey Ramsey County conducted their annual fly over deer surveys for all Ramsey County cities.