Marquette Baylor Has Volunteered More than 200 Hours to Support Our Free & Local Mission
For more than 10 years, Marquette Baylor has worked to amplify Aurora Health Care’s (Aurora) community impact in Milwaukee County and beyond. Through her work, she has volunteered more than 200 hours of her time to support our Free & Local mission and brought in nearly 3,000 individuals from Aurora to join her in helping us feed individuals and families in need.
“Hunger Task Force is a trusted legacy partner. Not only does the organization provide opportunities for our teammates to serve the community at the Volunteer Center and on the Hunger Task Force Farm, but it enables us to give back in a way that aligns with our social impact priorities and core values,” says Marquette. “At Aurora, a couple of our purpose and commitments are to lift everyone up and lead the way. I often feel that Hunger Task Force embodies those as well, which makes it the right place for us to align not only our investments as it relates to sponsorships and grants but also team bandwidth to donate time to help feed the Milwaukee community.”
Hunger Task Force and Aurora share the belief that food is medicine. Because of this shared belief and longstanding commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of Wisconsin children, families and seniors, Marquette and the team at Aurora have proudly dedicated more than 2,700 volunteer hours to pack senior food boxes with healthy, shelf stable items and assist with sorting donated food. Additionally, 270 employees have rolled up their sleeves to help us harvest fresh fruits and vegetables on the Hunger Task Force Farm.
In the fall of 2025, Aurora made a $50,000 gift that was used to purchase emergency food during the government shutdown. All the funds bought healthy food that was distributed to our network of meal sites, pantries and shelters when they were experiencing a nearly 50 percent increase in total community need.
“Because of the impactful work Hunger Task Force does, it’s easy for me to go to bat and request to dedicate more resources from Aurora to advance the mission,” adds Marquette. “I am always looking for ways to do more to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. Because Hunger Task Force serves everyone with dignity, it will always be a resounding yes to advocate for and support the organization.”
One thing Marquette wishes more people knew is that hunger is an issue affecting our communities where we work, live, play and serve whether we can see it or not.
“I think people don’t understand the impact of hunger until it affects them or someone they know,” says Marquette. “Hunger is a people issue – it looks like all of us – there is no single picture of hunger.”
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