Twin Cities food shelf raising money for generator after power outage forces it to toss nearly 6,000 pounds of food

Earlier this month, a power outage forced a Twin Cities food shelf to throw out nearly 6,000 pounds of food.

"We go through probably 72 cases of milk a week," Kenny Gilman, logistics coordinator, said.

The walk-in refrigerator at PRISM food shelf in Golden Valley, Minnesota, is a busy place with cheese, eggs and milk as popular items. But on Sept. 20, a lightning strike caused a power outage at PRISM, and everything inside the fridge and freezer had to be thrown out.

"It is painful to waste," said Gilman. "So yeah, it really is a bummer when we have to throw stuff out."

To make matters worse, their thrift store was also temporarily shut down. The revenue from the store helps them buy the food they donate.

"We lost food. We lost revenue. We needed to call in a repair person to get the