This morning, six of the largest food pantries in Dane County–Badger Prairie Needs Network, Goodman Community Center, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Sunshine Place, The River Food Pantry and WayForward Resources–gathered at Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin for an exciting delivery! This marks a new bulk order process, representing a new and creative approach to working together to meet growing community needs. This initial shipment of 20 tons of beef, ordered through Second Harvest, will be distributed across our six pantries and made available to neighbors experiencing food insecurity throughout Dane County.

Local food pantries are facing sustained, unprecedented demand. Many are now serving two to four times as many households as just a few years ago. This increase is driven by several factors, including population growth, rising food costs, and, most significantly, the sharp increase in housing expenses. As more families struggle to keep up with basic needs, food pantries are playing an increasingly critical role in filling the gap. Recent and anticipated reductions in federal support, including SNAP and Medicaid, are expected to place even greater pressure on both families and the emergency food system

At the same time, traditional free food supply sources have not kept pace with this surge in demand. As a result, pantries are relying more heavily on purchased food to keep shelves stocked. This challenge brought our organizations together to explore whether buying in bulk could reduce costs and increase the total amount of food available to the community. As we began developing this approach, the Dan & Patti Rashke (TASC) Family Foundation stepped forward with a generous investment to support this pilot effort. Today’s delivery is made possible through their commitment to innovative solutions to significant community issues.

“The Dan & Patti Rashke (TASC) Family Foundation is excited to support the collective as they take a coordinated approach to meeting community needs,” said Abby Schulz, Community Investment Administrator at the Dan & Patti Rashke (TASC) Family Foundation. “We believe in giving nonprofits the space to try new approaches and build on what works, and hope efforts like this encourage others to lean in and support creative solutions across our community.”

Over the coming months, our group of six food pantries in partnership with Second Harvest will continue to pilot and refine this collaboration. We look forward to identifying meaningful ways for the community to support and strengthen this work in the future. In the meantime, we hope you will continue to support the individual needs of members of our group for both additional space and for additional financial means to provide food to meet the increased demand we are all facing.