Fifteen food pantries in Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s network were significantly damaged by flooding, as the organization works to meet surging demand in the wake of the floods.
The impacted pantries are scattered throughout the Milwaukee metro area, including several in Waukesha County, according to Matt Stienstra, the organization’s director of advocacy and community engagement. Combined, the 15 pantries serve more than 12,000 residents monthly.
As of Aug. 19, Stienstra said the pantries were back up and running “to varying levels of capacity” after being closed for at least several days due to flood damage. Feeding America sorts and distributes food to hundreds of pantries in eastern Wisconsin, including more than 150 in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.
Of the pantries that have confirmed damage, some have lost entire pallets of food or crucial equipment like forklifts.
In particular, the Amani Community Food Pantry, 2480 W. Locust St., lost all of its food for last week, Stienstra said. The northside neighborhood has among the highest rates of food insecurity in the city and experienced some of the worst flood damage.
“Now, the place that people usually go to get a little bit of extra help, to get dinner on the table, doesn’t have the food they need,” Stienstra said.
As part of its response efforts, Feeding America has sourced two semi-trucks worth of disaster relief boxes to distribute in the most flood-damaged neighborhoods, Stienstra said. But the organization is still struggling to keep up, as families that would have gone to the closed pantries are now contacting other locations in their area.
There are nearly a quarter million food-insecure people across Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, he said.
“We’re talking about tens of thousands of families who are already worried about where their next meal was going to be coming from,” Stienstra said, “and now they’ve been hit even harder by these floods.”
Here’s what to know about the Milwaukee food pantries damaged by flooding, including what to do if you’re seeking food and how to best help your neighborhood pantry.
Which Milwaukee-area food pantries are damaged after flooding?
As of Aug. 15, the following Milwaukee-area food pantries had incurred significant flooding damage:
What to do if your food pantry is closed
If your local pantry is closed or overwhelmed, Stienstra suggested the following steps to get food and resources:
How to help food pantries amid flood damage
If you would like to aid Milwaukee food pantries as they work to meet surging demand, Stienstra said the following steps would be most helpful:
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 15 Milwaukee and Waukesha food pantries left significantly damaged after floods
Reporting by Maia Pandey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
