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When Silver Lining Taekwon-do held its first Black Belt test in May 2017, staff, friends and families of the eleven Black Belt candidates donated funds to WayForward Resources (then-Middleton Outreach Ministry).

Since then, the Middleton martial arts school’s twice-a-year black belt tests have also served as a mini-fundraiser to support WayForward’s food and housing programs, with owners Mathiam and Laura Mbow matching contributions.

“At Silver Lining Taekwon-Do, we believe in the power of community and being there for one another.  We believe that when everyone does better, we all do well,” the couple writes. “It is for that reason that we are proud to be a supporter of WayForward which does so much goodness in our community helping those who are less fortunate. Thank you, WayForward for all you do and you can always count on Silver Lining Taekwon-Do to help in any way we can.”  

We are grateful to everyone who has provided generous financial support to WayForward Resources this year.

As you make your year-end giving plans, please consider talking with your tax or other financial advisors about joining our community efforts to provide food access and housing stability in one of the following ways:*

MAKE A GIFT FROM YOUR IRA

Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from your individual retirement account (IRA) are still tax-free. Anyone age 70 ½ or older may receive QCD treatment for certain transfers of up to $105,000 from their IRA directly to a qualified charity. Transfers qualifying as QCDS are not included in taxable income and reduce the balance of your retirement account (on which you and your heirs will ultimately pay tax). You can direct your QCDs to one or more qualified charitable organizations of your choice.

Note: Be sure to confirm with your advisor that the transfer meets the requirements to be treated as a QCD.

OPEN A DONOR ADVISED FUND

If you want to retain flexibility in the causes you support, consider establishing a donor-advised fund. You can plan a charitable tax deduction this year and retain the flexibility to distribute gifts to charities later or over multiple years.

GIVE APPRECIATED STOCK

Gifts of appreciated securities may provide an increased tax deduction. If you have stocks or other securities that are worth more than you paid for them, and you’ve owned them for at least 12 months, consider giving those to charity. This may avoid capital gains tax and allow a charitable deduction for the securities’ full fair market value. Your deduction for donations of appreciated stock or securities to public charities is limited to 30% of your adjusted gross income each year, but you can carry over any excess deductions for up to five additional years.

Note: Since gifts of appreciated stock can take time to process, coordinate with your financial advisor as soon as possible to ensure a transfer can be completed by year end.

 

*Thank you to Madison Community Foundation and Wegner CPAs for providing information for this article.

A few months ago, we shared with our community that we were experiencing record demand at our food pantry. Visits had increased nearly threefold in two years. Despite spending more money on food than at any other time in our over 40 year history, we were struggling to keep up with this demand. This was leading to emptier shelves and fewer choices for people in our community who needed food. 

We set a goal of raising $150,000 to buy additional food for our food pantry. And you responded. We greatly appreciate the people in our community who have made donations over these last couple of months. Your response has made a difference. We have been able to purchase more food, meaning there is more food on our shelves ready for the long line of people waiting outside for our doors to open. This could not have been possible without your generosity. 

Once we open our doors, most of the food on the shelves is gone in a few hours. But there’s good news — your ongoing support means we can keep restocking the pantry shelves and keep providing access to nutritious food. We can keep buying more proteins, bread, eggs, milk and other basics people rely on us for. You answered our call to action this summer after we joined forces with 35 other local food pantries and gathered at the state Capitol to release a letter to the community. Our message began with a simple call to action: “Dane County, we need your help.” 

Your response helped us fill a critical food gap. But the pressure on our pantry is not going away. 

Food pantries continue to face a serious challenge as food insecurity rises. Last year we distributed the equivalent of 1.3 million meals, an unprecedented Because You Answered the Call number in the history of our organization. We led this coalition to sound an alarm about the rising demand for food assistance and the need for both immediate community support and longer term solutions to fill the gap. 

The letter from the pantries was published as a full-page ad in the Wisconsin State Journal in June. It was sponsored by United Way of Dane County and the Wisconsin State Journal and supported by Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. 

Our letter explained what is driving demand, including higher food prices, dramatic increases in rent and the fact that federal assistance that helped people make ends meet during the pandemic is gone. In Dane County, which is growing faster than anywhere else in the state, nearly 13% of kids were food insecure in 2022, up from 7.5% in 2021. That was before our food pantries started seeing drastic increases in demand. 

The result of this increased need is pantries are spending more money on food than ever before as the options they have to keep shelves stocked continue to shift and are more limited than they were just a few years ago. Buying food in bulk is more expensive now and the traditional suppliers of free food for pantries can’t keep up with the demand. 

WayForward has worked hard to stretch resources, space, and teams as far as possible. But to keep up with the demand, the pantry has had to increase spending on food by 240% over the last two years. 

The letter from the local food pantries also urged local, county, state, and federal officials, as well as other community leaders, to help find long-term solutions to food insecurity. We were joined at our Capitol press conference by local officials and community leaders, including Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Middleton Mayor Emily Kuhn, Janel Heinrich, Executive Director of Public Health Madison & Dane County, state legislators, county supervisors, and other invited guests. The event drew broad coverage from local media. 

“We can’t do it alone,” the letter said. “It will take all of us to meet this challenge and make sure our neighbors don’t experience hunger. We are committed to doing all we can. We are asking you to join us.” 

It’s not easy to say it, but the need shows no sign of slowing down. Every month here is busier than the one before. We’re going to have to continue to buy more food to meet that need. Having your ongoing support and knowing you’re with us means the world to our staff, volunteers and the people in our community who rely on us for access to food.

 

 

There wasn’t a specific goal when the team at Middleton-based NET started a month-long food drive in response to the rising need at WayForward and other food pantries across Dane County.

But that was before the competition got serious.

Once the team at NET (Network Engineering Technologies) split into four teams, collecting food each week to earn the pieces to a 1,000-piece puzzle, the potential impact of their efforts quickly took shape.

After just one week, the company brought in 650 pounds of food. Each team of 25 people took advantage of the chance to earn five puzzle pieces for bringing in meal ingredients like pasta and sauce or canned chicken and rice. NET launched the drive following a collective call for help from three dozen food Dane County food pantries.

“With people still working a hybrid or fully at home schedule I just wasn’t sure what I could hope to expect – but people have blown my mind with how generous they’ve been!” says Laura Duffield, NET’s Accounts Receivable Manager, who led the effort. “Making it a competition between groups has also been a big driver of success.”

Another motivating factor was the decision to drop NET’s donated items off weekly at WayForward’s pantry warehouse, she says. “It’s great to get a group of people over there to unload so they can see where their donations are going, and helps to feel ‘refreshed’ for the next round of weekly donations.”

Week two of NET’s drive focused on personal hygiene, with donations including laundry detergent and period products. Teams competing to collect more puzzle pieces brought in another 437 pounds for the pantry.

“Now that we’re two weeks in and have a little over 1,000 pounds donated, I’m making it our goal to hit a TON of food by the time the drive is over,” Duffield said after week two.

After week three, Net brought in another 1,083 pounds of pantry staples including cooking oil, flour and sugar, bringing their running total to over a ton of donated food and personal items for the pantry.

Another benefit to the effort? Building more connections between team members who are remote and those working in the office, Duffield says.

Halfway through the drive, one of the teams had almost completed their puzzle. That moved captains for the other teams to email their members to drum up support and offer to use monetary donations sent via Venmo to do the shopping. “I think this has helped people who might feel overwhelmed going to the store and bringing it all in,” Duffield says.

In the fourth week, the drive theme was peanut butter & jelly and cereal. The final week focused on collecting school supplies for WayForward’s Back to School Program. Teams could also earn puzzle pieces throughout the competition for bringing in items from WayForward’s Most Needed Items List.

The winning team would get bragging rights and and the coveted “banana trophy.” The reward for everyone included a celebration lunch with yard games.

But the biggest goal was for all four teams to complete their puzzles — and bring in as much food as possible. 

In the end, NET brought in 2,438 pounds of food and 140 pounds of School supplies, an effort that Duffield says speaks to the spirit everyone brought to the effort.

“I was lucky to have a great group of volunteers who have done most of the heavy lifting and some great team captains who have really stepped up and rallied support,” Duffield says. “I would tell another company that wants to do a drive to try and not feel overwhelmed and be hopeful at how generous people will actually be.” 

At the age of 67, Vicki feels she is stable in her housing for the first time in 10 years.

She credits the support she received last year from WayForward. The financial assistance from our Housing Stability program helped cover entry costs so Vicki could move out of our service area into subsidized housing for seniors in another community. WayForward case managers work with Housing Stability program participants to solve immediate needs and work toward their long-term goals.

Once Vicki was settled in her new home, she was able to pay closer attention to her health. A month after relocating, she discovered she had cancer. It took some time to convince her doctors, but after surgical treatment she is now cancer-free.

Vicki says she gives a great deal of credit for her stability to the Housing Stability program and told her case manager that WayForward helped save her life.

 

“Working with seniors, I have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the profound impact that community engagement and sustainability efforts have on our community.

We believe in fostering a sense of strength, purpose, and belonging, not just within our own senior community, but throughout Dane County. This is why I am deeply committed to supporting WayForward Resources.

Our efforts in the Back-to-School drives, plastic bag drives, and food drives are more than just events; they are lifelines that connect us to our community. It is also an honor to serve on the WayForward Leadership Committee. These initiatives are instrumental in promoting community wellbeing and sustainability, benefiting both the seniors we serve and the community as a whole.

Supporting WayForward Resources allows us to extend our reach and amplify our impact. Together, we are building a stronger, more resilient community where everyone, regardless of age, can thrive. It is an honor to be part of this journey, and I am grateful for the opportunity to give back to a community that has given us so much.”

—Taylor Powless, marketing director, Cardinal View Senior Living

 

Leslie Albrecht Huber, WayForward’s Strategic Engagement Director, recently spoke with NPR Here & Now host Deepa Fernandes about factors contributing to rising hunger in our community and across the country. 

“50% of the people who came last year had never been here before,” Huber said in the interview.

LISTEN

 

 

 

 

Over the summer, Middleton High School Key Club co-presidents Noah Duckett and Wyatt Ehrhardt came up with an idea that very quickly turned into a reality.

“We learned that food insecurity was a huge problem,” Ehrhardt says. “Noah and I immediately wanted to help, so we partnered with WayForward to collect and donate nonperishable food items.”

The high school seniors formed Middleton Meals Matter, a group of volunteers committed to fighting hunger and supporting our community. The teens have had huge success from their earliest efforts this summer, already bringing in two tons of food for WayForward’s pantry at a time when it most needed additional food to keep up with demand.

How did they do it? Social media savvy and people power.

Photo at top (left to right): Kayden Young, Nebil SIraj, Katie Barrett, Jaelynn Kemp, Wyatt Ehrhardt, Noah Duckett, and Ibrahim Aldashash. Not pictured: Levi Bliss, Gretchen Jones, Sophia Traun, and Grace Parker. Photo above: Claire Riedner, Grace Parker, Quinn Davis (Black Shirt), Noah Duckett (Blue Shirt), Wyatt Ehrhardt (Pink shirt), and Ibrahim Aldashash.

 

For its first food drive benefiting WayForward, the group filled volunteer shifts for a day-long event at Metro Market brought in 1,700 pounds of donated food and nearly $1,000 in cash donations for WayForward. Duckett says he was blown away by the compassion of people in Middleton.

“We’re firsthand making the change,” Duckett says. “It’s great to donate, but if you get to see the change that you’re making, it’s even better.”

One month later, the teens held a second drive at Metro Market that brought in 2,400 pounds of food and $1,400 in cash donations. Duckett said one shopper invited him along inside the store and invited him to fill a cart with whatever he wanted for the drive.

“This one was even more special, because we didn’t know if the first one would be more successful and more of a fluke,” says senior Grace Parker, one of the group’s board members. “It was great to see all the people still being receptive to us and participating. A lot of people were really happy to see younger people in the community being active in something like this. Often it’s your parents or your grandparents.”

Now the group feels momentum, driven by its efforts on TikTok and word of mouth. “Everyone who’s volunteered said they’d love to volunteer again,” says Duckett, a feat with most volunteers being busy Key Club members and varsity athletes at Middleton High School.

The group has another drive scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28, at Metro Market, right before the end of Hunger Action Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about hunger in America and inspire action.

“This effort shows our community that anyone of any age can make a difference in their community,” Ehrhardt says. “I also think that we motivate the community to donate because they see how we as young people recognize the need to support our community.”

2023-24 ANNUAL REPORT

As I look back on the past year, I am struck by how profoundly the dramatic increase in need in our community has shaped our organization.

These changes go beyond numbers — we see it in all aspects of our everyday work.

Our programs served more than 13,000 people in our community, almost twice as many as the year before. The rise in demand has required us to think creatively, leverage partnerships in new ways, and remain focused on our core mission of food security and housing stability. We have asked more of you this year to help us meet this unprecedented need, and you strongly responded with your financial donations, food drives, and hours of volunteer service. 

The challenges we face as an organization reflect the broader struggles within our community, including rising food and housing costs. Our pantry distributed more than one million pounds of food last year, continuing the increase in the costs of our food security programs. We saw increased demand in our housing programs, too. We provided support to 729 households to prevent eviction and preserve their stability, over 100 more than the year before.

Thank you for standing with us, for believing in our mission, and for helping us navigate this transformative year. We need you to keep standing with us, as growing numbers of people in our community face barriers to accessing nutritious food and maintaining stable housing.

In our first year with our new name, seeing our dedicated volunteers proudly wearing their new WayForward T-shirts has been a powerful symbol of our shared commitment and energy to build a community where everyone has the stability to thrive. Together, we can continue to work toward this vision.

With gratitude,

Ellen Carlson
Executive Director

What does it look like when a community comes together to support its kids?

It’s a room full of backpacks, lined up in neat rows. It’s families greeted by the sight of those backpacks filled with what their children need to start the school year ready to learn. It’s students at every stage of the educational journey from 4K to college choosing a backpack for themselves that represents them — and the year ahead.

This year’s Back to School Program distributed school supplies and backpacks to 621 students, thanks to financial support and donations from individuals, churches and businesses. On pickup day, parents and students surveyed the dizzying array of backpack options, organized by grade. 

Some parents who stopped in solo without their kids did their best to imagine what choice they would make. 

“He’s got an obsession with Paw Patrol,” said one mother as she spotted a backpack featuring a cartoon dog among the options for her son starting 4K. Another mom of a young student faced a classic dilemma: “I wonder if I should go with unicorns or princesses?”

Students who were there in person to choose their backpack were sometimes overwhelmed by the choices. Others were overjoyed, including two best friends who found matching backpacks. 

Another future 4K student was tentative as she approached the backpacks for her age group. But that all changed when she spotted a Hello Kitty backpack. A shy smile became a wide grin that took over her face when a WayForward volunteer said, “It’s yours! Enjoy it!”