Chris Kolstad had seen people fishing out food from the dumpster behind his pizza shop before, but recently, he realized it was becoming more frequent.
So, on July 29, he took to Facebook to make a public plea.
“Please do not eat out of our dumpster,” wrote Kolstad, the owner of Pizza Man in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. “Nobody deserves that. If you are that desperate for food, please come ask.”
“If you are too embarrassed to ask, find a way to call us and ask if there is a way to leave a small cheese pizza outside the back door or something. You don’t even have to see us,” he continued. “If you are the ones doing so, leave me a note and we will find a way to leave any extras or mistakes out back so you have something to eat without going through the trash.”
Stirred by Kolstad’s act of compassion, people and businesses in the area, like food truck Nozy’s Grill, offered to help. After the post went viral, Kolstad posted a donation link, and by Aug. 3, had raised over $3,000. Minnesota news channel WCCO first reported the story.
Now, over a month later, Kolstad has raised over $1,000 more, he says.
“Pretty much from day one” of taking ownership of the shop nearly six years ago, Kolstad tells TODAY.com, he’s seen signs of people eating from the dumpster.
He says he knew it wasn’t the work of animals because he’d find pizza boxes with empty water bottles and used napkins nearby. He had left signs out before, but then it started happening more frequently.
The day he posted his offer, his cook told him there was a woman eating garlic cheese bread out of the trash in front of the store.
“You’re sitting outside, you got nothing to eat and somebody’s willing to hand you something hot and fresh as opposed to straight out of the trash?” he says. “I imagine that makes a pretty big difference in your day.”
One of the recipients of donations from Kolstad and Pizza Man was Southern Anoka Community Assistance (SACA), a nonprofit food shelf also located in Columbia Heights, which has assisted that community, Northeast Minneapolis and surrounding areas for nearly 50 years.
The organization says it has seen a 52% increase in the number of people it’s helped in the area since 2020. In 2024 alone, SACA broke a record by serving 68,106 people in 26,107 families, with 35% of those people being children, and it expects to break its own record in 2025.
“The demand for SACA’s services has increased every year since 2020, and shows no signs of slowing down,” Dave Rudolph, SACA’s co-director, tells TODAY.com. “With food costs on the rise, it’s more important than ever to support local food shelves like SACA.”
Since Kolstad’s viral post, he says he’s helped “close to 100” individuals facing food insecurity with his offer. On Aug. 3, one member of a “large family” wrote a note thanking the shop for anonymously helping her out when her family was in need.
“This is why we do what we do,” Kolstad captioned the post.
Kolstad says he’s been “very fortunate” to never have experienced food insecurity, but he’s been around and worked with people who have.
That’s why, he says, “I can’t sit in a building full of food and watch somebody starve in my parking lot.”
