With Food Support from Hunger Task Force, Kinship Community Food Center Has Served Nearly 4,000 Households Over the Winter Holidays

For 30 years, Hunger Task Force and Kinship Community Food Center have partnered to ensure children, families and older adults in need of food support receive it in the neighborhood they live in. Since the start of October, the food center has provided free and nutritious food to nearly 4,000 households and welcomed 275 new shoppers.

“Working in partnership with Hunger Task Force to serve our shoppers is incredibly important to us. We can’t do a lot of what we do without being part of a larger food network. It takes an entire community to be able to meet the local need,” said Amanda Fahrendorf, Senior Communications Associate at Kinship Community Food Center.

Nearly 20% of the perishable and nonperishable food items the food center offers comes from Hunger Task Force absolutely free of charge to them.

“I hear from our shoppers that they cannot afford fresh produce at the grocery store and would go without it if it wasn’t available at our food center,” adds Amanda. “Regardless of the season, families are always in need of these fresh options and we’re grateful for Hunger Task Force distributing produce to us to be able to provide along with produce from our urban farm during the growing season.”

Kinship Community Food Center shares Hunger Task Force’s commitment to nutrition education. In addition to offering fresh produce, staff at the food center show shoppers how to cook with the ingredients that they may not be familiar with and often provide samples. As part of the organization’s wellness initiatives, staff consistently research and develop recipes that highlight a featured item from the food center.

Kinship Community Food Center is welcoming new shoppers every week. Staff hear from shoppers that it isn’t a reality to be able to cover costs for everyone in their household in this economy.

“Paying rent and keeping utilities running in their homes puts a lot of pressure on the families we serve – many of which are living right on the margin of poverty,” adds Amanda. “The cost of utilities and rent have increased a ton over the last couple of years. For people living on the edge of poverty, an increase in costs can place them in a serious state of crisis.”

As we kick off 2026, it’s important to remember that hunger isn’t seasonal. It has a big impact on the health and wellbeing of children, families and older adults everyday – not just during the holidays.

“During the winter months, the emotional stress of keeping up with the cost of utilities and paying rent is significantly higher,” says Amanda.

Hunger Task Force is the only food bank in Milwaukee that does not charge food, delivery or network membership. It works diligently to ensure families and older adults can receive healthy, emergency food with dignity on the day they need it that meet their dietary and cultural preferences.

Hunger Task Force is Milwaukee’s Free & Local food bank and Wisconsin’s anti-hunger leader. The organization’s core values are Dignity, Justice, Equity, Compassion and Stewardship. Hunger Task Force feeds people today by providing healthy and culturally appropriate food to hungry children, families and seniors in the community absolutely free of charge. Hunger Task Force also works to end future hunger by advocating for strong public policies and nutrition programs at the local, state and federal level.