HUDSON, Wis. — History is being made every day at St. Croix Valley Food Bank, because new records are being set for the amount of hunger relief being delivered in the four western Wisconsin counties the nonprofit agency serves.
That's what has driven the dream of building a larger, more functional warehouse than the leased space in Hudson that's now serves as the home of the young nonprofit. That goal is now much closer to reality, thanks to $4.3 million in federal dollars secured by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
"It will not just bring us a new facility; it will solve hunger right here in Western Wisconsin!" St. Croix Valley Food Bank executive director Ann Prifrel Searles told Sen. Baldwin Friday at an event that drew volunteers, donors, and members of foundations and community groups that have supported the organization.
"Thank you! I thank you! We thank you!"
Baldwin said she was convinced of the need for the facility by the sheer numbers of people seeking food aid in the region, numbers that are on the rise even as the economy recovers from the pandemic-related shocks.
"There are 10,000 households projected to be food insecure here in western Wisconsin," Sen. Baldwin, a second-term Democrat, told the crowd.
"Not knowing where you will get your next meal can lead to incredibly difficult decisions for families, like choosing between adequate food and rent, bills, health care."
Searles said the agency distributed 4.2 million pounds of food to 212,000 individuals in its first full fiscal year, working through 55 different partners such as food shelves, shelters, church pantries, school backpack programs and its own mobile food aid unit.
But the need is even greater and rising at a time when inflation is hitting people on fixed incomes.
"This region's demand 6 to 7 million pounds," she explained. "We’re seeing even more people needing access to food, especially our senior population. We have seen a significant increase in seniors visiting our mobile pantries and also all the pantries across the region."
She said there was some thought to delaying the launch of the food bank until the agency could raise all the money needed for the $12 million project. But the need for hunger relief was too high to wait any longer, so they decided to launch operations in leased temporary space.
"We are operating in a highly inefficient space that does not have the capacity to meet the need," Searles explained.
Food banks often receive shipments of "rescue food" from stores, items at or near the sell-by date, but still safe to consume. But that requires having enough refrigerated space to store donations until they can be distributed. St. Croix recently had to turn down a large milk donation because of lack of cold storage space.
Searles said she's confident the supporters will pull together enough funds to make the warehouse happen.
"We are hopeful that the community will respond, and this project will move forward quickly, because the need is real and we have work to do!"
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