Door County business groups hold food drive to launch new series helping those in need
DOOR COUNTY - Eight of the Peninsula's community business associations are joining forces for an offseason countywide food drive that is planned to be the first of a series of efforts by the organizations to help local residents in need.
The Support Door County Food Drive started this month as the inaugural program of the “Support the Door” series that will be coordinated by the business associations. Participating are Destination Sturgeon Bay, Baileys Harbor Community Association, Carlsville Door County, Door County North, Egg Harbor Business Association, Ephraim Business Council, Visit Fish Creek and Sister Bay Advancement Association.
People can donate food items through May at 12 drop-off locations in eight communities. Louise Howson, community coordinator for the Sister Bay Advancement Association, said if the drop-off site is not a food pantry, donations will go to the nearest pantries. The Sister Bay and Ephraim business associations posted a list of most-wanted items to donate on their respective Facebook pages.
The drop-off locations are:
Baileys Harbor: The U.S. Post Office or Town Hall;
Carlsville: Door County Coffee;
Egg Harbor: Main Street Market or the Welcome Center;
Ellison Bay: Klaud’s Food Pantry at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church;
Ephraim: The post office;
Fish Creek: Stella Maris Parish Catholic Church;
Sister Bay: Door of Life Christian Church food pantry or First Baptist Church's Koinonia food pantry;
Sturgeon Bay: Destination Sturgeon Bay Visitor Center or Destination Door County Visitor Center.
Howson said discussions among leaders of the county business associations for "Support the Door" began in late December. She said it's not the first time the associations have banded together for some sort of project, but this is the first time they're working on a planned series of charitable programs.
"We work together on a lot of different projects," Howson said. "We chose this particular project because in the offseason, what do we have? We have our residents, and we always try to support local efforts for them."
Because this first effort is taking place from now through May, aka the offseason for Door County's tourism industry, the organizations chose to focus on a project in which local residents could do something to aid local residents.
That's how the idea of a food drive came up, and after consulting with the Door County Food Pantry Coalition, Door County Community Foundation and United Way of Door County, the drive was launched.
"We decided that, in talking with them, they could always use more food," Howson said. "And this is the time of year to do it."
Howson also noted surging food prices in the past couple years and recent cuts in some federal food programs mean drives to support local food pantries are more important than ever for people and families in need.
With this food drive underway, Howson said the business associations now are working on future projects to help those in need in Door County.
"We'll do something else under the 'Support the Door' umbrella," she said. "It would be a donation-based effort where we think there's really a need. We don't see a reason not to do it. We're talking now to see what works."
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Food drive across Door County launches new series of charitable events
