Ben Lorber and the team at WISN 12 Help Provide Food For Families During the Holidays
50 Faces. 50 Stories. 50 Years of Fighting Hunger.
Hunger Task Force is proud to be Milwaukee’s only Free & Local food bank and Wisconsin’s anti-hunger leader. In celebration of our 50th Anniversary, Hunger Task Force is highlighting “50 Faces of Ending Hunger,” honoring the anti-hunger heroes who champion Free & Local and support our mission to end hunger.
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Food For Families is Milwaukee’s most storied tradition of giving – feeding thousands of families during the holiday season. The community fundraiser dates back to 1978 when WISN 12 began working with Hunger Task Force after launching Food For Families as a grassroots community project to combat local hunger.
Ben Lorber, the director of programming and public affairs at WISN-TV, who is also a Hunger Task Force Executive Council member, has been instrumental in organizing the Food For Families phone bank and has supported the holiday fundraiser since he was a young child.
“I was born and raised in the Milwaukee area. As a child, I can remember going to the grocery store with my parents and seeing the barrels and contributing what we could to feed families in our community,” says Ben.
WISN 12 hosts a two-day Food For Families Phone Bank – right before Thanksgiving – to fundraise so Hunger Task Force can purchase healthy food, like frozen turkeys and hams, in bulk and provide thousands of healthy, festive meals for local families absolutely free of charge. In 2023, the phone bank raised a lifechanging $152,000, and, since its inception 13 years ago, it has garnered more than $1.7 million in community support.
“We’re celebrating our station’s 70th anniversary this year and we’re thrilled to have a long-standing partnership with Hunger Task Force and know that our viewers and people in the community see the two entities come together at Thanksgiving to make the holidays more joyous for those in need,” adds Ben.
Through his work at WISN 12, Ben regularly evaluates the station’s community partnerships to ensure they’re successful.
“We know that feeding the community resonates with our viewers, so every year it is one of the biggest events that we do in terms of fundraising with a nonprofit,” says Ben. “I think it’s easy to see that Hunger Task Force is a good steward of the money that’s donated and stretches every dollar by buying in bulk to feed more families.”
It’s important to Ben that the community has many ways to benefit a charity of their choice. With Hunger Task Force, people can make a monetary donation, drop off nonperishable food items at Hunger Task Force and volunteer their time at the food bank or at The Farm.
For more information about Food For Families or to make a donation, visit www.HungerTaskForce.org/food-for-families.
Meet the 50 Faces of Ending Hunger!
Click below to discover real people making a difference in the fight against hunger – new faces added each month! As we journey through our 50th year, keep checking back to meet more incredible individuals making a difference.