Stock the Shelves: This Plymouth farm gave 75,000 pounds of produce to support hunger relief. Here's how you can support too.
PLYMOUTH - About five years ago, Peter Seely, manager at Springdale Farm in Plymouth, decided to donate surplus produce to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.
“I knew that there were some people that could use food,” Seely said. “I was also aware too that sometimes what they’re given is just canned stuff, or not the healthiest things, so there was some interest in getting fresh produce.”
Now, Springdale Farm is part of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s Farm Link program, a farm-to-food bank initiative.
Through the partnership, Springdale Farm has contributed 75,000 pounds of organic produce, like potatoes, onions, melons, cucumber, squash and possibly sweet potato in the future, to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin partners in the Sheboygan area.
Working with the Medical College of Wisconsin, Feeding America purchases fresh produce from local farms that can be donated to local food banks and pantries.
“Rural communities rely on more of those areas where there are resources to be able to be moved around, and it’s very important that we know where those pockets are, so we gather resources and make sure everybody has access to them,” Patti Habeck, president and CEO of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, said.
According to pre-COVID-19 Pandemic data from Feeding America, 7,860 people in Sheboygan County experienced food insecurity in 2020, 73% of which were below the SNAP, Other Nutrition Programs threshold of 200% poverty.
Since then, Habeck said people continue to experience disruptions due to supply chain issues and inflation that have increased the cost of food.
She said this has pushed some people, especially those in more rural areas, into food insecurity, because those areas may have less partnerships with larger corporations or other entities that can offer direct support.
Springdale Farm and other Farm Link farms — Riverview Gardens in Appleton, Healthy Harvest Farm in Menomonee Falls, Johnson Farm in Franksville and Maurice Family Farms in Union Grove — have contributed 190,000 pounds of fresh produce to Feeding America pantries.
Want to help? Stock the Shelves donation window is open during October
Last year, thanks to the generosity of readers, more than $163,000 was raised through the Stock the Shelves campaign, a partnership between USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin newspapers and Feeing America Eastern Wisconsin, which provided more than 652,000 meals.
Stock the Shelves aims to help those in need in the communities served by the following Wisconsin newspapers: Appleton Post-Crescent, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Oshkosh Northwestern, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Sheboygan Press, Fond du Lac Reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wausau Daily Herald, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Marshfield News Herald, Stevens Point Journal, Door County Advocate, Oconto County Reporter and Kewaunee County Star-News. Donations will help support the community in which the donor resides.
Checks should be made payable to Feeding American Eastern Wisconsin, ATTN: Stock the Shelves, and mailed to 2911 W. Evergreen Drive, Appleton WI 54913. Enclose alongside your contribution the donor’s address with city, state and ZIP code for internal processing, a notation of whether the donation should remain anonymous, whether the donation is in the memory of someone special, and the donor’s name as it should appear in the thank-you advertisement to be published in the Thanksgiving edition of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin’s daily newspapers.
To donate online, visit feedingamericawi.org/stocktheshelvesdonate/
Feeding America supports Sheboygan County pantries
Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin partners with the Sheboygan County Food Bank, 3115 N. 21st St., which distributes food to pantries throughout the county.
Sheboygan County food banks that are supported by Feeding America include:
Salvation Army, 710 Pennsylvania Ave., Sheboygan. Open 1:30 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and 4:30 to 6 p.m. the first, second and third Wednesday of the month. No appointment is necessary. 920-458-3723
St. Luke United Methodist Pantry, 623 Ontario Ave., Sheboygan. Open 9 to 11 a.m. on the last Thursday of the month. 920-458-3461
Iglesia Evangelica De Dios Es El Poder, 1431 St. Clair Ave., Sheboygan. Open 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays. 920-941-0327
Mapledale Baptist Church, 4015 Superior Ave., Sheboygan. Open 4 to 6 p.m. Thursdays. 920-458-6441
Plymouth Food Pantry, inside St. Vincent De Paul store, 2225 Eastern Ave., Plymouth. Open 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays. 920-893-2989
Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @alexx_garner.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Stock the Shelves: Plymouth farm gives fresh produce, support Feeding America
