Milwaukee Changemakers, a local advocacy initiative, will host a food-tasting and cooking workshop to show residents how to make quality meals from food pantry items on Tuesday, May 19, at the Ebenezer Ministry and Family Worship Center.
“A lot of people going to the food pantries, but they don’t know what to do with [the food],” said Anita Garrett, a volunteer with the initiative. “What are these? What do I do with these? So, we are showing people how to make things with them.”
The event will feature cooking demonstrations using canned and dry goods typically given out by food pantries. There will be a lesson on making pasta salad, and participants will leave with the ingredients to recreate the meal at home, according to Garrett.
Stigma around going to food pantries can be difficult to overcome, Garrett said, but another hurdle pantry-goers face is not having a choice in what food they receive and how to turn those ingredients into quality meals.
Garrett would like to see local pantries eventually adopt the workshop format and prepare meals while the pantry is open, so residents can learn how to incorporate more ingredients into their meals.
“I used to say I didn’t like black beans, but then I put it in chili, now that is the only way I make my chili,” Garrett said. “We have all kinds of test-tasting things, so they can go home and prepare these things.”
“We are giving them the tools,” she said.
Garrett is a graduate of Changemaker’s first cohort of leaders. The program was founded in 2024 to help local leaders create change and promote food justice in Milwaukee.
Members of the initiative were recruited from programs such as the Food Leaders Lab through Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, Líderes por la Salud through Sixteenth Street Community Health Center and Mujeres con Poder Corre/El Centro.
The initiative is supported by a federal funding program aimed at improving food access to communities that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) − but that funding ends in September 2026.
Members of the initiative are discussing possibilities for the future, including registering as a non-profit, according to Tatiana Madia, a co-founder of the initiative and founder of Rising in Community.
Madia said the May 19 event will be a good example of the valuable knowledge and services the initiative provides surrounding food insecurity and grocery store closures.
Event Details:
Where: Ebenezer Ministry and Family Worship Center at 3132 North King Drive.
When: Tuesday, May 19 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Registration for the event is not required.
Questions can be emailed to milwaukeechangemakers@gmail.com.
Everett Eaton covers Harambee for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: eeaton@usatodayco.com.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Bader Philanthropies, Zilber Foundation, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Changemakers hosts food pantry cooking workshop
Reporting by Everett Eaton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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