Holiday Season Guide

How You Can Get Involved

**Holiday Meals * Baking Baskets * Winter Food Drives * Holiday Art Market * GivingTuesday**

Give Holiday Meals

You can help people in our community honor their holiday traditions. WayForward food pantry guests can choose from items that are meaningful to their families, including turkey, stuffing, gravy, ham, and more. Your donations will ensure our food pantry can purchase enough butter, milk, eggs and other ingredients needed for baking and holiday meals that make this time of year special and joyful. You can also purchase holiday pantry items from our Amazon Wish List.

Amazon Wish List

Collection of four baskets gift wrapped with baking items.

Holiday Baking Baskets

Please drop off Holiday Baking Baskets only from December 8 to December 12

Put together a basket or box of shelf-stable and non perishable essentials for holiday baking to donate to our food pantry. All baskets should contain: flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Consider personalizing your baking basket with a new, special add-on or two such as: decorating sugar or sprinkles, spices like cinnamon, cocoa powder, baking mixes, canned frosting, packets of instant yeast, cookie cutters, oven mitts, spatula, a cookie sheet, or a rolling pin. Have fun and make it festive!

Drop off baking baskets at the WayForward Distribution Center (orange donation door at the back of the parking lot), 3504 Parmenter Street, from Monday, December 8 to Friday, December 12, during the hours of 9 am–4 pm.

Want more information? Contact Community Engagement Manager Jill Bradshaw, jill@wayforwardresources.org or (608) 836-2751.

Download the flyer here.

Winter Food Drives

stock the pantry shelves

Looking for a way to bring your colleagues, congregation, or team together? Plan a food drive to help stock the WayForward food pantry.

Get started by filling our food drive form
Consider Printing and attaching shopping list to empty paper grocery bags and hand out in your office, church, or school
Reach out to us to discuss the details of your drive, including when you will be dropping off your donation.
Businesses: contact Beth at
beth@wayforwardresources.org or 608-826-3414
Other groups: contact Jill at
jill@wayforwardresources.org or 608-836-2751

Holiday Art Market

Join us on December 6 & 7!

Kick off your holiday shopping at a fun and festive holiday market that benefits WayForward. Local makers will be on hand at FCI in Middleton, with each of them donating at least 20% of their sales to benefit WayForward’s food and housing programs. The popular Gift To-Go Boxes will be back for this year’s market, along with door prizes, and the crowd favorite Plinko game.

Saturday, December 6 from 10 am to 5 pm
Sunday, December 7 from 10 am to 3 pm

2551 Parmenter Street in Middleton

Sponsorship opportunities are available, contact beth@wayforwardresources.org.

Event Details

GivingTuesday

Create Stability Together on December 2

Create stability for our neighbors by joining us on December 2 for GivingTuesday to raise $75,000 to support our food and housing programs during a time of the highest demands we’ve experienced in our over 45-year history. We’ll spend the day sharing stories about the amazing people who support our mission and how lives can change when we build a community where everyone has access to stable housing and enough nutritious food needed to thrive. Follow us on Facebook to join the fun as we “fill our pantry shelf” throughout the day with a variety of nutritious foods and household essentials.

Learn More