Nancy Taylor knows she has to get up early and join the rush inside the Feeding America cooler if she wants to bring back the freshest produce to the food pantry at Eastbrook Church.
“Milk, I haven't seen that since I've been here and everyone needs a gallon of milk,” Taylor said.
Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is one of the only places local food pantries can come to get fresh fruits and vegetables.
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“We're able to access a lot of food from locally sourced food from local farmers, manufacturers like potatoes and onions and cabbage and so through our network of suppliers we have access to a lot of that,” Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin president Charles McLimans said.
One in four children in Milwaukee are at risk of being food insecure, which means they're not getting enough to eat and if they're not getting enough fresh food that can cause problems later in life.
“If you don't establish healthy eating patterns at a young age, kids are not used to understanding what vegetables are, how they're prepared then they're going to be eating no so good foods later on,” McLimans said.
And with schools out for the holiday, it's especially important for families to be able to stock up.
“With the economy being so tight right now. We get a lot of families with a lot of children and it's always a pleasure to feed them,” Richard Becker said.
He was at Feeding America picking up food for Bethany Lutheran Church’s Christmas dinner.
“I had a little girl on Saturday come through our line and she wanted an apple first out of the apple bag, so it just made her day,” Taylor said.
