Helping Community Food Pantry and Hunger Task Force Improve Community Nutrition in Milwaukee’s Harambee Neighborhood

May 20, 2024

For more than 25 years, Hunger Task Force and Helping Community Food Pantry have been working together to combat food insecurity in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood. A majority of the fresh, frozen and nonperishable healthy food available to clients is provided by Hunger Task Force so the pantry can serve more than 1,000 individuals monthly. In 2023 alone, Hunger Task Force supplied 31,718 pounds of nutritious food to the organization to help feed those in need.

“I work diligently to ensure we are consistent in operating our pantry weekly since we’re located in a food desert,” said Billie Burton, manager of Helping Community Food Pantry. “We’re proud to be a source of nourishment to children and families as well as the number of seniors who are bound to our area due to transportation or physical limitations.”

Helping Community Food Pantry is open on Thursdays from 1 – 3 p.m. It is a choice pantry, which enables every guest to select nutritious food items that match their personal preferences. The team of staff and volunteers at Helping Community Food Pantry works to eliminate hunger as a roadblock to social and economic success for individuals and families.

“I believe the people in the Harambee neighborhood deserve to have our community resource,” adds Burton. “Within the next few years, we hope to update our space so clients can enter the building and shop the pantry on the same floor.”

Hunger Task Force is the only food bank in Milwaukee that does not charge for food, delivery or network membership and works diligently to ensure seniors and families can receive emergency food with dignity, on the day they need it and in the neighborhood they live in.

Hunger Task Force is Milwaukee’s Free & Local food bank and Wisconsin’s anti-hunger leader. The organization’s core values are Dignity, Justice, Equity, Compassion and Stewardship. Hunger Task Force feeds people today by providing healthy and culturally appropriate food to hungry children, families and seniors in the community absolutely free of charge. Hunger Task Force also works to end future hunger by advocating for strong public policies and nutrition programs at the local, state and federal level.