Each year thousands of Milwaukee-area men, women and children go hungry. TODAY'S TMJ4 has teamed with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin to help make sure no one goes without this holiday season.
Feeding America is bustling. The need to feed the hungry is as great as ever.
"Since 2012 we've seen a 200% increase in need," said Charles McLimans, president and CEO of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.
The food bank's mission is to solve hunger. McLimans said they rely on a network of 600 partners to make sure nobody goes hungry, "Our tag line is 'together we can solve hunger'. That means we do it in partnership with a lot of people and organizations throughout the community. We want the entire community to come together to think about this problem."
All it takes is one dollar at a time as Feeding America turns every one dollar donation into three meals.
Faith/Santa Fe Lutheran Church has partnered with Feeding America for 14 years. Pastor Richard Suero says the need is critical. "It's precisely this time of thanksgiving that everyone is expecting something to happen so we have to make it happen together because we could not make it happen by ourselves as a church," he said.
He said the community will benefit from Feeding America's focus on healthy food options, "because in one way or another, if we eat healthy then we can prolong our existence. So life is about learning to eat at the same time."
"This is life," Suero said, "people are so grateful for whatever they might have. There's always a big smile on their face and a 'thank you' and 'you know we'll see you later.'"
TODAY'S TMJ4 has once again teamed with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin for the Food 4 the Holidays campaign. There will be a phone bank on Monday, November 23, 2015 from 4:00 - 7:00pm on TODAY'S TMJ4.
