Food pantry to hit the road thanks to federal funds

The Ozaukee Food Alliance in Saukville will be able to take its mission of feeding those in need on the road thanks to federal funding secured by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and included in the government funding bill approved by Congress last week.

Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has included $246,000 in the $32 million package directed toward projects in Southeast Wisconsin for the Food Alliance, which will use the money to buy what it is calling a fresh market truck.

“This will allow us to take fresh produce out into our communities and serve our neighbors, especially those in the northern part of Ozaukee County, better than we can with just our facility,” Ozaukee Food Alliance Executive Director Andrea Acosta said.

Sara Pashak, past president of the Food Alliance Board of Directors who wrote the grant request that resulted in the allocation, said, “We were just shocked by the great news,” adding that the food pantry was informed it would receive $246,000 on Feb. 3.

“With this truck, we can go park at a senior living community or a low-income community or in Belgium to support migrant workers,” she said.

The truck, which will be refrigerated and ideally have sides that open to create something akin to a vegetable stand, fits perfectly into the food pantry’s Food as Medicine initiative, Acosta and Pashak said.

“We may have other items on the truck, but fresh produce will be the focus because we believe in food as medicine,” Acosta said. “Research shows the healthier the diet, the healthier the body.”

Grants previously received by the Food Alliance have been used to create an indoor  hydroponic growing operation and raised outdoor garden beds at its facility at 100 E. Green Bay Ave. to further its fresh produce program.

The food pantry also receives fresh produce from area families that grow food and donate some of it, local farmers and Feed America, a food bank that receives produce from retailers, wholesalers and growers, Acosta said. The Food Alliance also purchases some of the produce it distributes.

She said the Food Alliance is working with a local company to buy the truck, adding that she doesn’t know yet whether it will retrofit a vehicle or purchase a new one or when the fresh market truck will be on the road.

“I’d be happy to get this going right away, but we’ll have to see,” Acosta said.

The money for the Food Alliance comes as the Republican budget bill, known as The One Big Beautiful Bill, is projected to cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, by $187 million over the next decade, taking food assistance away from an estimated 2.4 million Americans, according to Baldwin’s office.

“As grocery prices remain high under President Trump and he slashes funding for SNAP, more families are struggling to put food on the table, and Wisconsin’s food pantries are feeling the strain,” Baldwin said. “We have more to do to lower the cost of groceries, but I’m proud to deliver this direct support to the Ozaukee Food Alliance to help reach families where they are at and make sure Wisconsinites aren’t going hungry.”

The Food Alliance truck is one of 26 projects funded by Baldwin’s package, which is intended to ensure Wisconsin residents have access to quality, affordable health care, job training, good-paying jobs and affordable housing.

The only other allocation for a project in Ozaukee County is $753,000 to improve Concordia University Wisconsin’s nursing facilities in Mequon to increase enrollment and address workforce shortages.

Among the largest grants are $4 million to the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee for the construction of a health commons facility, $3 million to Versiti for the construction of the Versiti Blood Research Institute and $3 million to the City of Kenosha for affordable housing.