Imagine you’re hungry, unable to afford food. This is the reality of many in Wisconsin. To help supply these people with the nutrition they need, food pantries are a must. Erin Waldhart is the executive director of the WAFER Food Pantry in La Crosse. She explains how they support their community and the benefit of their mobile food pantry.
The WAFER Mobile Food Pantry is a food pantry on wheels that is stocked with dry goods, basic staples, and freezers to transport perishable items. This mobile unit is taken to 20 different sites throughout La Crosse County each month.
“Each site is preloaded before so we are able to serve between twenty and forty families based on family size at each stop,” says Waldhart
She adds that she has been aware that for a lot of people transportation and physical limitation barriers make it much harder for them to come to the pantry’s physical location. She knew this was an issue and wanted to figure out a way to take the pantry to them, thus the mobile unit was created.
“We have a new mobile pantry manager and he has just exploded the program,” says Waldhart. “He’s up to 100 to 150 or more families than we saw at our highest and now we’re serving between 300 and 350 families on the mobile unit.”
Since creating the mobile unit option, the trends of those receiving meals has increased. During the pandemic, Waldhart saw an immediate decrease as people were afraid to go to the pantry. Many people relied on government programs such as food share benefits and other food programs that worked to get funds and food out to those in need. She says that at the end of February to the beginning of March, these benefits will go back to pre-pandemic levels and she expects to see an even bigger increase in the families they serve than they already have because of that.
“Being able to take the mobile pantry to rural areas has been very beneficial,” explains Waldhart. “We know that in some of those rural areas, because of transportation and low income, they’re not able to take advantage of the resources that are available closer to the city of La Crosse. So it is really important for us to have this unit and take it to them.”
Waldhart says that in addition to the mobile unit, they are in the process of moving their physical pantry to a new location. The original location is prone to flooding and insufficient in size to their growing reach. The new location in La Crosse will allow them to offer a space for their patrons to come shop that is welcoming and looks like a grocery store.
“This new building will offer some dignity in the shopping experience instead of it seeming like a handout,” says Waldhart.
The new food pantry location is expected to be up and running by the spring. To learn more go to https://waferlacrosse.org/
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