Statewide FoodShare Outreach
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One of our goals here at Feeding Wisconsin is to scale successful local programs. When we were developing our strategic plan, we conducted a needs assessment and FoodShare outreach was a critical gap, especially in the northern and western parts of the state.
Luckily, one of very own members, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, has been operating a best in class FoodShare Outreach program helping potentially eligible people in their service area qith friendly application information and assistance. Over the last 6 years, their program has connected Wisconsin families to benefits that has amounted to nearly 12 million meals and over $53 million of local economic impact. In fact, last year, their program won a national award from the Feeding America national office as one of the best outreach programs in the food bank network.
Working closely with our board and members, we quickly got to work to figure out how scale Second Harvest's program statewide.
And now just a few months later, we are thrilled to announce that FoodShare outreach will be expanding through the state later this year!
The first phase is already underway as we are beginning to transition the management and administration of the FoodShare Helpline (1-877-366-3635) from Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin to Feeding Wisconsin. This transition will also include adding new staff which will expand the Helpline's capacity to more effectively serve people living throughout the state with information and application assistance. We are planning for a seamless transition and callers should experience no interruption in service. In fact, the only change people should see will be a refreshed Get a Quest Card website and some new marketing materials.
The second phase will begin in the fall (September/October), when our members Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Feed My People Food Bank will start their FoodShare Outreach programs with on the ground, in-person outreach specialists in four counties in Northeastern Wisconsin and four counties in Western Wisconsin to help our friends and neighbors looking for FoodShare information and assistance. In Northeast Wisconsin, the in-person outreach will focus in the Fox Valley counties of Brown, Winnebago, Outagamie and Fond du Lac. In Western Wisconsin, in-person outreach will be available in Eau Claire, Chippewa, Clark and Dunn counties.
We are actively recruiting someone with program management and hunger-relief experience to help us manage and grow our program. If you happen to know (or be) a data-driven, outcome obsessed hunger fighter, here is the link to the job posting.
We are truly excited to be working with community organizations, partners, and agencies to bring this service statewide through the Helpline and with deeper, local engagement in the eight new counties.