Community Corner
Food Pantry Seeks Donations to Build New Facility
Donations will help the Menomonee Falls Food Pantry bear added expenses after moving into new facility.
The Menomonee Falls Food Pantry is moving and pantry oorganizers are asking for public help with financing a new building. Right now, the food pantry is located inside the former Hiawatha School at N84W16579 Menomonee Ave.
“The reason we have to move is because the school district building where we’ve been housed for the last eleven years has closed,” said Robin Manke, president of the Food Pantry board of directors. “They have been very kind to us and have allowed us to stay as long as we are in true interest in getting our new building completed. They’ll allow us to stay until we move which should happen in early July.”
Food Pantry officials secured the rights to a former Water Department building just east of the Cherney Field baseball diamond off Pilgrim Road, north of Appleton Avenue, at N85W15382 Menomonee River Pkwy. Plans call for adding an additional 2,400 square feet with a new metal building.
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“We will have to raise money because we are not only building a building but we are going to have to pay expenses,” Manke said. “We’ll have to insure the building, pay for heat, utilities, snow removal, lawn care and garbage removal.”
“We’ve got a fundraising mission going on and we’re looking to raise $200,000 dollars for the cost of the new building,” said Daniel Johnson, a Food Pantry board member. “So far, we’ve raised a little more than one third of that total.”
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The Menomonee Falls Food Pantry has operated since 1983 when it was established because of layoffs at Briggs & Stratton. It’s been run by a group of 12 churches and each church has a volunteer coordinator. The pantry is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and in the evenings from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The churches provide labor for stocking and day checking the food as well as servicing the clients that come through.
“It has always been in schools or churches at no expense to us for insurance, heat, rent, and so on,” Manke said. “We’ve never had to have a working budget. We’ve always had snow removal, etc. All we’ve ever had to do is provide food. Nobody is paid to do this mission.”
Those interested in making financial contributions to the Food Pantry can do so by sending checks made out to the “Falls Food Pantry” and sending them to P.O. Box 238, Menomonee Falls, WI 53052. For more information, call (414) 218-7945.
