Video: Shining a Light on Hunger at Hanukkah

and their partners from throughout the Twin Cities took the start of Hanukkah as an opportunity to collect canned goods and raise awareness about hunger.

At an event on Wednesday, the second night of Hanukkah, information about hunger, food shelves and what scripture has to say about the issue were available, along with games, traditional food and singing. Children stacked the canned goods into a "hanukiah," Hebrew for menorah.

Needs for hunger relief have grown dramatically in Minnesota and across the country. For example, the number of Minnesotans dealing with hunger doubled over the course of five years, according to The Hunger in America/Minnesota Study released last year.

For more information:

Second Harvest Heartland—The upper Midwest's largest hunger relief organization

Mazon—A Jewish response to hunger

Neighbors, Inc.—Northern Dakota County Food Shelf and social services

Hunger-Free Minnesota—A statewide coalition fighting "missing meals"