PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — Phil Groothousen has been volunteering at the Port Washington Food Pantry for the past 20 years. Over those two decades, he says he's never seen the pantry's food supply so low.
"It's disheartening to see," said Groothousen, president of the food pantry.
Pantry director Pat Kozak says over the past five months, she's seen a significant decrease in the number of donations coming in. Normally the pantry would have two to three months' worth of food stocked on its shelves. Now, they have about two to three weeks' worth.
"It's inflation, that's a great big part of it," said Kozak. "I do think it also has something to do with Ukraine. There was such a need in Ukraine, I think a lot of the food that we normally got might have gone to them."
According to Kozak, volunteers normally give out 1,000 items of food total to families every Tuesday.
"We'll see around 100 to 125 families a week," said Kozak.
"The need today is just almost overwhelming, "said Groothousen.
In order to keep up with demand, Kozak has resorted to using monetary donations made from the community to the non-profit to buy the food they're most in need of.
"I was out three times this week. I bought 840 cans of canned goods at one store, and 840 cans of canned goods at another store. And before, those were all donated items."
That's why they're putting out an urgent plea to the Ozaukee County community to donate whatever non-perishables you can to keep the pantry up and running and ensure no family goes hungry.
"A good majority of us right now could be one medical bill, one tragedy from being in the same situation that they are right now," said Groothousen.
To donate to the food pantry, visit the pantry's website, call (262)-284-1148, or email foodpantryinc@gmail.com to schedule a date/time to drop off items.
