The River Food Pantry, south central Wisconsin’s busiest food pantry, recently received a local food insecurity emergency grant from the Dane County Executive’s Office that totals over $110,000.
According to the River Food Pantry website at https://www.riverfoodpantry.org/, the pantry operates with the help of dedicated volunteers and local community donations, providing food and other supplies to thousands of people every week. They buy fresh food, take donations and recover food that would otherwise be wasted, using it in programs such as mobile lunches in low-income neighborhoods and roadside grocery pickups.
In 2022 alone, over 2,000 River Food Pantry volunteers helped redistribute almost 3 million pounds of food to contribute to their vision of a fully nourished community.
The additional funding comes at a fortunate time for the pantry, which is expecting a rise in need with the decrease in federal food aid starting early this year.
FoodShare, a federally funded program that helps feed tens of thousands of families in Wisconsin every month, will no longer be supplemented with emergency COVID-19 support funding starting in March 2023.
The end of this additional pandemic support resource will potentially impact the many food distributors, farmers and families which it assisted over the past few years. With this grant, the River Food Pantry can help support the increased number of people in need resulting from the reduction in FoodShare benefits.
According to their website, most of River Food Pantry’s support funding will be used to buy fresh produce and staple foods for their programs, although some will be allocated for hygiene products such as toiletries and cleaning supplies.
The remaining money will be used on packaged meals and to improve River Food Pantry’s capacity. Regardless of each dollar’s specific purpose, though, the entire grant will be used to reduce the overall impact of food insecurity on the local community.