Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin

Our largest program is the distribution of food to more than 400 charitable programs that offer programs to provide food to those in need. In addition, we support agency programs with the following:

Kids Cafe Program

Kids Cafe is a program of Feeding America and is one of the nation's largest charitable meal and nutrition education programs exclusively for children in need. Second Harvest operates six Kids Cafes in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program. They are located at the Nehemiah Development Corporation, Boys and Girls Club of Dane County-- Taft and Allied locations, Goodman Atwood Community Center, Vera Court Neighborhood Center and Salvation Army Darbo Drive Community Center. Each Kids Cafe is designed to meet the needs of the children living in the neighborhood. While no two programs are identical, each shares a common goal of providing a safe, respectful environment where youth can receive wholesome meals, nutrition education, academic and recreational activities.

Direct Delivery/Drop Site Program

Food pantries and meal sites in distant counties often do not have personnel or appropriate vehicles to transport the quantity and types of food they need from our Madison warehouse. In 1999, the food bank implemented a program to deliver food directly to agencies in some counties and in 2002 it added three drop sites convenient for agency pick-ups. Today more than 260 agencies in 16 outlying counties can better serve their communities with the help of this program, which has grown 550% since inception. An estimated 800,000 pounds of food will be delivered this year.

Mobile Pantry

In August 2003, Second Harvest rolled out the Mobile Pantry Program. In partnership with a member agency, food from the Second Harvest warehouse is trucked to a neighborhood site at a prescheduled time for immediate distribution to residents. The program provides additional food to those in need and gives Second Harvest a valuable channel to increase distribution of perishable food items to ensure that good food will not go to waste. The Mobile Pantry increased its distribution 42% to more than 1 million pounds of food last year and is serving hundreds of people with each scheduled visit.

BackPack Program

Backpacks filled with nutritious, easy-to-prepare foods provide nourishment on long weekends and other out-of-school times for children considered at risk of hunger. In conjuction with a school district and a community agency that acquires food through Second Harvest, backpacks are filled with food and a teacher discretely hangs it in a child's locker to be taken home on the last school day before the break. The child returns the empty backpack on the next day back at school. This is Second Harvest's newest program to fight child hunger. It is designed for small town/rural communities and serves the Evansville and Tomah School Districts.