Great Examples of Giving

Something old, Something new, Something for the needy in Milwaukee...

It’s that time of year when wedding bells are in the air. Jim and Michele Dennik tied the knot on June 19. To celebrate their wealth of happiness, they chose to spread their joy and use their wedding as a perfect opportunity to help those less fortunate.  Instead of receiving gifts they had guests donate to the Hunger Task Force in their honor.  What a wonderful way to share their big day with others. Congratulations and a big Thank You to the Denniks!

 

Think Outside the Lunchbox

Outpost Natural Foods has been feeding kids through their "Think Outside the Lunchbox" program for the past 6 years. From June 1 - August 21 they are accepting non-perishable food donations at all three stores with the focus being on healthy foods for kids. They are also accepting monetary donations at each register in each store during the same time period. Store locations are:
2826 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bayview
100 E. Capitol Drive in Milwaukee
7000 W. State Street in Wauwatosa

Thanks to Outpost, a community icon for over 40 years, and their commitment to feeding kids in Milwaukee.

 

Happy Birthday Indeed!

Many children these days have birthday parties with lots and lots of gifts. But a young lad named Lucas Berth asked friends and family to give donations to the Hunger Task Force instead of gifts. At the donation dock he reporte, "My mom always tells me that I’m fortunate to always have food since some people do not.” Lucas has shown that not only adults can help with the hunger problem in Milwaukee, but kids can too. Way to go Lucas!!!!

 

Guten Tag!

Are you hungry for sauerbraten? Do you want to see a glockenspiel and a Great Example of  Giving in Action?  Please join Hunger Task Force on Sunday, July 25th from 1-3PM at the north gate during Germanfest.  You can see a Great Example of Giving in the team of volunteers from  “M&I Bank – Central Credit”.   They will be at Germanfest to collect your non--perishable food  items and you will be admitted to the festival free of charge. This will be their third year collecting non-perishables at Germanfest.  Over the past two years “M&I Bank-Central Credit”  has collected over 33,000 pounds of food at  Germanfest. For their their “Community Day” Volunteer Project they chose to work with Hunger  Task force because they wanted  a real way to touch the community that they all live in. So danke schon  M&I Bank, danke schon!  You are truly a Great Example of Giving. So come on to Germanfest,eat that sauerbraten and see that glockenspiel - with the extra money you are saving - enjoy a piece of kuchen!

 

Our Best Re-Tweeters

Great giving comes in many forms, especially today when social networking popularity is at an all-time high. Hunger Task Force is on the social media bandwagon, and we’ve been “tweeting” away on our Twitter page. As we’ve been building our Twitter network and making new friends across the online community, we’ve connected with some great “re-tweeters.” The Women’s Fund of Milwaukee (@womensfundMKE), Our Milwaukee (@ourmilwaukee) and the American Association of Retired Persons in Wisconsin (@aarpwi) are leading our growing Twitter family with up to the hour re-tweets of some of our most important messages. From summer meals for kids, to Stockbox for seniors, these great organizations are helping Hunger Task Force—or, @hungertaskforce if you will—spread the word about hunger in Milwaukee and how we can end it!

 

Fight Hunger In Your Sleep!

Don’t you hate it when you are running a meeting and the same co-worker’s phone goes off right in the middle EVERY week?!  Or worse, someone nods off and they blame it on a big lunch?  We’ve all been there and the folks at Brenntag Great Lakes in Butler decided to turn this problem into a positive.  The powers that be at Brenntag instituted a system of fines for meeting transgressions. Cell phone rings?  Fine.  Can’t “hold it” and you have to sneak out to the restroom?  Fine. Get an unexpected visit from Mr. Sandman?  FINE.   The offending parties ponied up their fines, the total was matched by the company, and the result was a donation of over $1,000 to fight hunger in our community!

 

Direct Supply - Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

If you’re familiar with Internet video culture, you might have stumbled across a video of a dancing bana

na shouting “Peanut Butter Jelly Time!” over and over. It’s just a goofy and fun video that someone put together, but recently, volunteers from Direct Supply took the chant to a whole new level—they made it their official food sorting theme. Every time a jar of peanut butter or jelly came through on the food sorting belt—which is quite often—the enthusiastic group broke out into “Peanut Butter Jelly Time!” This contagious, jubilant chorus kept the energy high throughout the three hour sort, and propelled the volunteers to sort 28,000 pounds of food. But after Peanut Butter Jelly Time ended at the food sort, Direct Supply didn’t stop their enthusiasm for helping out. They held a company Cereal Food Drive the very next week, and donated nearly 1,700 boxes of cereal to Hunger Task Force. They are truly a shining example of how volunteering can not only be rewarding, but can also spark a creative, fun passion for ending hunger. Thank you, Direct Supply!

 

It's a Matter of Hunger
By Ivory Snowden

Man, woman and children without food or shelter.
They are going days, week and months,
not knowing where their next meal will be.
It can happen to anybody.
No money in the bank.
No job to go to.
Some people working in very low wage jobs.
We should give to those who are in need.
It will help build them up to a better life to live.
We can grow, if our basic needs are met.
No one should have to worry about their next meal.
Give so families can live.

 

A True Fairy Tale

Once upon a time… Hunger Task Force was running out of cereal. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and too many kids were going to have to go to school, learn and play without eating in the morning unless something was done!  The students at Amy Montessori School in Brookfield heard the call. It was hard for these youngsters to grasp the idea that there are other children who do not have something as simple as cereal to eat in the morning before going to school.  They had to do something to help!  These children were tiny (they WERE all 4-6 years old after all…) in stature but large in numbers.  All 110 of them banded together to right this wrong.

At the beginning of the food drive, there were days when the youngest of the children were asking their parents to pick them up so they could see how much food was in the food drive boxes that they themselves collected. Then the day finally came when they no longer needed a lift to see what they had collected... there was 91 pounds of cereal overflowing in the box!

And all the princes and princesses lived happily ever after knowing that other children would have cereal in the morning!

Way to go Amy Montessori School, thanks for all of your hard work!

 

Souper Idea!

On Sunday, March 21, Congregation Emanu-El B'ne Jeshurun sponsored their 2^nd annual Chicken Soup Cook-Off. Amateur and professional cooks came together and prepared their best chicken soup recipes to sample out to the crowd who paid a $5 admission fee. A buffet of vegetables, crackers, bread and dessert with beverages rounded out the meal.

The soups were tasted by over 60 people attending and judges and trophies were awarded to the top three entrants for both the amateur and professional categories.

Professional category winners:

• The Glen cafe
• Sendik’s-Mequon
• The Good Life Catering

Amateur category winners

• Bonnie Plotkin
• Robert Jacobs
• Peter Gilbert

The proceeds from this event will be split between Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun and Hunger Task Force. Each chef was also asked to bring an extra gallon of their soup to be frozen and donated to a local meal program through Hunger Task Force.

Thanks Temple Brotherhood for making this day such a tasty one.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Al and Barbara Bern have made a tradition of donating to Hunger Task Force instead of buying gifts for friends. To acknowledge these gifts, Hunger Task Force sends out cards stating that a donation was made in their honor. This is fairly common, especially during December. This year the Bern's are getting creative. Instead of buying Valentine’s Day cards they made a monetary donation to Hunger Task Force and sent a list of everyone who should be honored by their gift.

 

A Little Friendly Food Sorting Competition…7th graders vs. 8th graders

On January 13, 2010, Pastor Margaret and the 7th grade Confirmation Class from St. Matthews Lutheran Church sorted an amazing 25,000 pounds of food!
The congregation was impressed and proud of their young people when the total was announced at church. There was, however, another group of young people who saw the accomplishments of the 7th grade class as a challenge. So, on January 20th, Hunger Task Force welcomed the 8th grade Confirmation Class, led by Pastor Chris of St. Matthews Lutheran Church. Both groups had excellent intentions and even bigger hearts, but the eighth graders had a height advantage and scored the victory by sorting 26,000 pounds! There are no losers in this story of course and the big winners are the hungry in Milwaukee because together these local young people sorted a total of 51,000 pounds of food.
Way to go St. Matthews Lutheran Church Confirmation Classes and thanks for all of your help, you are a great example of giving!

 

Souper Bowl of Caring

Greenfield Elementary School Student Council spearheaded a food drive in their school inspired by the “Souper Bowl of Caring”. (www.souperbowl.org ) The kids hosted a school wide food drive and the class that collected the most food was treated to a pizza party. An enthusiastic 5th grade class won. The school collected a whopping 2,975 pounds of food! Congratulations to Greenfield School for stepping up and choosing Hunger Task Force for their food collection.

Join the movement that is transforming Super Bowl weekend into the nation’s largest youth-led weekend of giving and serving. Souper Bowl of Caring equips and mobilizes congregations, schools and businesses to positively impact their communities by collecting money or food on or near Super Bowl weekend. 100% of the collections are donated directly to the charity of each group's choice.

 

"Monkey Pants" shares his birthday

On a recent wintery Friday afternoon a young family pulled up to Dock 1 at Hunger Task Force with several boxes of food to donate. A fairly typical scene at 201 S. Hawley Court, but as the warehouse specialist started taking down the specifics of their donation, the young parents informed him that the food was being donated by their sons who recently turned 4 and 2 (see photo). "That's sweet," he smiled, not really understanding how literal the parents were being. Turns out that these young guys had learned that some boys and girls who lived near them did not have enough to eat some days. They didn't like thinking about how awful that must be so they asked friends and family to give them food for their recent birthdays instead of presents. A great example of giving and a great reminder that no matter the time of year, tis better to give than to receive!

 

Scout Pack 146

Each winter, the 40 members of Cub Scout Pack 146 from Jefferson Elementary School in Wauwatosa go door to door in the neighborhood selling holiday wreaths. The money these youngsters raise from the wreaths goes toward their camping supplies and adventures for the upcoming summer. For their hard work, the scouts each get a bonus 10% of their total wreath sales. And in true Cub Scout fashion, they wanted to make their hard earned money help others. They knew that the post-holiday months are a tough time for many families, so they each decided to pool together a portion of their own earnings to help out those less fortunate. Together, they donated $80—a mountain of riches for kids who are not yet 10 years old—to Hunger Task Force. One scout even donated his entire sales bonus—what big hearts these little guys have! That $80 brought a lot of comfort to a lot of families this winter. Thank you Pack 146!

 

Braving Heartburn for a Good Cause

Cans and boxes of food dropped off for the hungry meant extra chili for the folks who stopped out to the MilwaukeeFood.com Chili Bowl at the Harley-Davidson Museum on Sunday, January 31st. Over 25 restaurants competed for the “Golden Ladle” and year-long bragging rights as the baddest chili in town. This is the first year Hunger Task Force was involved in the event and it definitely won’t be the last as chili enthusiasts donated 1,247 pounds of food! Thank you to everyone who stopped out to donate food and consume copious amounts of chili and we’ll see you on January 30, 2011, AKA the Sunday before the Super Bowl!

 

Harley’s employees rev up to fight hunger

Harley-Davidson is already a partner in our fight against hunger through their Fueling Young Minds summer meal program, but it doesn’t stop there. Legendary companies stay at the top of the hill because they hire great employees and strive for excellence at every level. This past November, the 1,000 men and women in Powertrain Operations on Capitol Drive in Wauwatosa  had a competition to see which area could donate the most food per person, with the winners getting a pizza party. After two highly contested weeks, the results were 2,334 pounds of food and over $2,000 raised! And the kicker was that the winners decided to donate the money that would have gone to the pizza party to fight hunger as well, an additional $2000! Harley-Davidson and the people who make the machines you know and love, are truly a leader in the Milwaukee community.
www.harley-davidson.com

 

The Tweet that Fed Milwaukee

It isn’t easy to put together 500 Holiday bins full of all the fixin’s that you have when friends and family come over, but Hunger Task Force worked together with generous donors from the Milwaukee community to get it done. Klement’s Sausage Company is one of these community leaders who saw the need and took action. The story begins on of all places… Twitter. Christina Klement became a follower @hungertaskforce and began reposting our tweets (messages) to support the agency. With holiday summer sausage in mind, a quick call to Christina led us to her uncle, Jeff, who didn’t have to think twice to offer us twice as much delicious Klement’s product than we asked for! As a result each Holiday bin recipient will be able to put out plenty of sausage and cheese plates for guests this year. Thank you Klement’s!

 

Scout Pack 574

Each November, Cub Scout Pack 574 from Edgerton Elementary School works on a community service project. This year, the boys decided to collect food for Hunger Task Force. In an effort to make the drive even bigger, they decided to join forces with the Girl Scouts from their school. These kids in grades 1 - 5 are well aware of how fortunate they are to have food available to them whenever they want. They find it hard to imagine what it might be like going without a meal for even one day, not to mention those who may go longer.

The boys and girls collected from their friends and families. They encouraged parents and relatives coming to their holiday concerts at school to bring a non-perishable food item with them and place it in the Hunger Task Force bins before the concerts. The Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts made posters to hang throughout the school to remind their classmates of the food drive.

 

Gift of the Month

When we asked Phil from Oak Creek if we could include his story in our Great Examples of Giving, he politely declined. He explained he wasn't stopping by our office for any sort of recognition, he just wanted to do what he could to help. He sensed our disappointment and agreed we could share his story, but not his full name or image. Phil stops by once a month, twelve months a year, to drop off much needed infant formula. Phil does not have little ones at home, this isn't leftover or extra formula. He makes a special trip to the store to make this special, expensive purchase each month, then stops by the office to quietly donate.

We respectfully are not sharing his image or his last name, but we happily share his story and his great example of giving.

 

MillerCoors hits a home run!

After a long day at the MillerCoors Brewery, employees will stop into the Frederick Miller Pub (or Fred’s Pub if you are in the know…) to unwind. Instead of the standard pool table or darts, this bar features a flat screen TV and a Nintendo Wii set-up for the employees to compete with each other for bragging rights. To launch the newest addition to Fred’s Pub, Guest Relations Coordinator Matt Mleziva held a Home Run Derby with the Wii Sports game and charged players $1 or one can of food to enter. The top 3 sluggers won prizes and all proceeds benefit the Hunger Task Force.
http://www.millercoors.com

 

Cranksgiving

When people think Milwaukee, they think cycles. Sure, we are home to one of the most internationally recognized motorcycling companies, but we also have a historic tie to bicycling culture: Milwaukee has been the proud home of bike messengers since 1891, when a charming 12-year old convinced Western Union that he could deliver packages faster than any horse or man. The rest, as they say, is history.

More recently, the non-motorized version of cycling is gaining popularity once more, thanks to the stylistic rise of the fixed gear bicycle. Bike messengers and fixed-gear enthusiasts alike have created a subclulture unto themselves, and have begun to participate in a national movement to use cycling to give back to those less fortunate. Enter Cranksgiving, a ten-year old commitment from bike racers across the nation to fill their messenger bags for the hungry. For the past two years Steve Kasprzyk has been organizing this alley-cat ract to benefit Hunger Task Force. This year the cyclists took to the streets bringing in over 1,000 pounds of food!

 

Breakfast is on Roundy’s

Vivian King and the folks at Roundy’s know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day better than most, with their Pick 'n Save, Copps and Metro Market stores found throughout Wisconsin. On the week before Thanksgiving they backed a truck completely full of Roundy’s Corn Flakes, Tasteeos, and Frosted Shredded Wheat to our dock. Hunger Task Force staff unloaded 28 pallets (that’s 7,920 boxes!) of cereal to distribute to folks who may be skipping breakfast because well, they can’t afford to eat THREE whole meals a day. But for Roundy’s that wasn’t enough. They wrote a check for over $14,000 above and beyond the cereal to take care of milk and other breakfast items. Thank you to Roundy’s a local company that knows the people in our community and works hard to make sure that no one has to skip a meal, especially breakfast.

 

Gobble For Groceries

The Tau Kappa Epsilon brothers (or “Tekes”) at UW-Milwaukee aren’t your average fraternity. They don’t do panty raids or leave horses in the Dean’s office. They help feed the hungry and they do it in style. In the weeks before Thanksgiving when you drive up and down Oakland Avenue near the UWM campus, look out for giant turkeys and pilgrims running up and down the sidewalk raising food and money for Hunger Task Force. Stop by the Open Pantry right next to their house and buy some groceries or just throw a couple bucks at them. It all goes toward fighting hunger. They have raised more than 4000 pounds of food since 2004 for Hunger Task Force. A great big thank you to the Tekes for making the commitment to fight hunger and no, we don’t really need to know what is in those red plastic cups you are holding while you are doing it.

 

Evan's Lemonade

In the summer of 2009 a young man growing up in the suburbs of Milwaukee decided that he was going to do more with his vacation than play video games or watch TV. He was going to set up a good, old fashioned lemonade stand! Sweet story, right? Well it gets better. Evan wasn't just selling lemonade to make money for himself, he wanted to raise money for Hunger Task Force so he could help out kids in Milwaukee who weren't as fortunate as he is. Over the course of the summer, which was not especially hot which was not so good for business, Evan and his staff (CJ, seated on the left) raised $100 for his hungry neighbors. This is easily the largest amount ever donated by a boy with funds raised by selling lemonade. And that is what makes it a great example of giving!