By Rick Gleason
Executive Director,
Family Promise of Green County
Greetings Neighbors,
In March of 2022, our first community meeting was held regarding the start-up of a food pantry to meet the needs of our local families and individuals in the Juda, Brodhead, and Albany areas. This portion of Green County was identified as an area that was underserved and facing food insecurity.
Family Promise of Green County partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin and local supporters to begin planning a new food pantry site to serve these three communities. Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 405 East 9th Ave., Brodhead, WI, offered to host the pantry within their facility. It was determined that the most beneficial pantry model would be a drive-up pantry.
Our first refrigerator was purchased for us by Green County Fall Nationals, and we began with two small chest freezers. In August of 2023, we served our first families and throughout our first year, we have seen the demand for assistance grow. Our current average number of households being served is about 80 per month. In our first year of operation, we distributed 39,556 pounds of food to our neighbors in need.
We are extremely grateful to our local businesses who regularly donate food to our pantry. During our first year, we have been fortunate to partner with Brodhead Kwik Trip, and the Dollar General stores of Brodhead, Albany, and Orfordville, as well as our local donors who have joined us in our fight against food insecurity. New donors are always welcome. We can also accept frozen meats including venison if they are packaged by a professional meat packing facility.
While we are extremely grateful for the donations that we receive, not all foods come free, and we do have monthly expenses to meet. We rely on donations and grants to meet our monthly expenses which range between $300 and $400 per month, this is where the communities can help us. Local youth groups, churches, and community organizations can do fundraisers, and food drives to help support the local pantry. If you’re interested in having someone from Family Promise of Green County meet with your group, contact Rick Gleason; Director, at 608-328-2600.
Our three greatest needs continue to be 1) financial support, 2) storage space, and 3) volunteers. Currently, we receive our food delivery order a few days before our scheduled pantry day. Due to limited storage for refrigerated and frozen items, we are transporting part of the order back to our Family Promise Center for storage. On the scheduled pantry day, we reload the product into our van and return it to our pantry site for distribution. This also limits us in some of the food choices we can make. If your organization or business has space in the Brodhead area where we could place an additional freezer and refrigerator that would be extremely helpful. Finally, volunteers; we have two distribution days, and two food truck delivery days each month. Deliveries are always on the first and third Friday between 7:30-9 a.m. and we could use two or three additional volunteers for no more than one hour. Our pantry distribution days beginning September 1, 2024, will be the second and fourth Monday of each month from 4-6 p.m. We have two teams so you can volunteer one day a month or both. The Community Food Pantry is open to residents of Juda, Brodhead, and Albany, you can attend both days each month.
For additional information contact Family Promise of Green County at 608-328-2600. Donations can be sent to Family Promise Community Food Pantry, P.O. Box 378, Monroe, WI 53566. Family Promise of Green County is a 501c3, your donations are tax-deductible.
