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Food pantry receives 1,000 pounds of meat

The freezers at New London’s Food Pantry are now full, with 1,000 pounds of donated meat delivered last Friday, April 29. Pete Butch of New London’s Piggly Wiggly was notified by mail that Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin chose New London as the recipient for the food drop.

Last year, Piggly Wiggly Midwest and Kraft Foods participated in the Million Meals/Kraft Huddle to Fight Hunger Campaign. Butch explained that customers in his store could donate whatever they wanted to the total on their grocery bill. People rounded up their grocery bill to the next dollar, the next ten dollars, and so on.

“We had a great response,” said Butch. I can’t thank the community enough for their generosity. To see this shipment come in to help the less fortunate in our community is really icing on the cake.” Butch was happy to help city employees and Food Pantry Director Kim Ebert take the frozen meat into the pantry and get it into freezer units. It arrived on a 4 x 4 pallet and stood nearly six feet high. In the boxes were chicken and beef of all cuts and sizes, even some Black Angus beef.

Ebert said they haven’t had a donation of meat like this in a long time. “It gets rougher all the time around here,” she said. “In five years time our need has doubled. It used to be that donations alone filled our shelves. Now donations are down and demand is up.” She said that in 2005 the pantry assisted just over 800 families. In 2010, they cared for 1,399 families, with a shortage of supplies.

Ebert said the Boy Scouts and Postal Workers numbers were down this year. “The churches are phenomenal, giving as much as ever before. But overall, the need has forced us to go out and purchase food. This donation came at a time when the pantry had two freezers standing empty. We’re very thankful.”

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