The Shawano Area Food Pantry and Resource Center (SAFPARC) got a shot in the arm from a Midwest grocery chain to help kick off the holiday season.
The Roundy’s Foundation gave a $3,000 check Friday morning to SAFPARC for use in purchasing food to help its clients in Shawano County. The monetary donation comes at an ideal time as the organization gets ready to help families in need during two of the biggest benevolent holidays of the year — Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“I think that puts us a little over the top for Thanksgiving,” said Flo Winn, SAFPARC director. “We’ve got the Masons bringing us turkeys, and we have some on order. Then we have the rest of the year to worry about.”
Roundy’s, the parent company for Pick ’n Save in Shawano, will also be collecting canned food and other nonperishables through this weekend to give to SAFPARC. Pick ’n Save will also be giving out free coffee and cocoa to give customers a warm feeling as they give monetary donations, and Boy Scout Troop 32 assembled pantry bags for customers to purchase, with proceeds going to SAFPARC.
“People can purchase items that the pantry needs,” said Chris Gilbert, Pick ’n Save store manager. “They can also make a $1 donation (at the register).”
Gilbert recommended that food donations be nonperishable, as it will be easier for SAFPARC to use donated money to order meats and other items that need to be refrigerated. Pick ’n Save is placing little cards with customers’ names on them at the front desk recognizing their monetary donations.
The local store has set a goal of $10,000 worth of food and monetary donations; the total was around $4,000 as of Friday morning.
“We have dropoff bins here (at the front), and I’ve got it arranged to haul over there (to SAFPARC),” Gilbert said. “We’re off to a good start.”
Typically, SAFPARC helps out 562 families per month. During October, that number increased by more than 100, partially because of the time of the year and partially because the federal government shut down its services for more than two weeks due to the budget battle in Washington, D.C.
Winn anticipates helping out about 500 families for Thanksgiving, an increase from the 400 to 450 family range SAFPARC has seen in previous years. The week of Thanksgiving, SAFPARC halts its regular food assistance to focus solely on providing Thanksgiving dinners, she said.
Interestingly, tight financial times have not decreased the amount of donations to SAFPARC, Winn said. If anything, they’re going up.
“As they’re getting on their feet, they’re giving back,” she said.
Some of Winn’s clients are retirees who are feeling the turbulence from the recent government shutdown. Winn said one client said she was only receiving $412 this month in Social Security benefits, but it will jump up to $727 in December and leveling off at $622 for every month after that.
“There’s a lot of talk about food stamps being cut,” Winn said. “That’s a heck of a hit for elderly people, and a lot of our people are elderly.”
Winn credited Gilbert with being “a real booster” to her organization. She noted that SAFPARC could not function without the benevolence of businesses and nonprofits.
“It’s all donations. We’re all volunteers; no one gets paid,” Winn said. “We get a day-old donut every day (from Pick ’n Save). That’s our pay.”
Mark Ingledew, Pick ’n Save’s grocery manager, said he enjoys helping out SAFPARC through the store.
“It makes me feel good that we’re able to do that,” Ingledew said.
Winn noted that many residents in the county have needed a helping hand at one point or another. Many of the people helped give back once they’re back on their feet, she said.
“Your mother, brother, sister, cousin or somebody is coming by us,” Winn said. “Even if they donate 20 bucks, it could help some extended family member.”
Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc. is a retail grocery company headquartered in Milwaukee. The company serves customers throughout Wisconsin, across Minneapolis/St. Paul and in the greater Chicago area.
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