Feeding the kids

Brandon Savage joined Family Sharing last December, but he already had summer on his mind.

Since then, piles of paperwork and countless volunteer hours have yielded the desired result. Hundreds of children have food to eat who otherwise may not this summer.

Savage, who learned about the Summer Food Service Program at Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee, made offering it in Ozaukee County one of his top priorities.

“I really wanted to move forward on starting that because there’s no program like it in the region,” he said.

Ozaukee County, despite being one of the most affluent counties in the state, has a need.

“When people think of Ozaukee County they don’t consider issues like food insecurity,” Savage said.

“We are on the front lines and we see the reality every day. There’s a hidden truth of how Ozaukee County families live and how they struggle day to day and how they feed their families.”

The Summer Food Service Program eases some of that pressure at a time help is needed the most. Schools provide meals for about nine months of the year, and Family Sharing does a backpack program that provides weekend meals to 175 children. Then there’s summer, which the program now addresses.

“This kind of closes the gap for us to provide meals to kids when school is out,” Savage said. “We were really proud to pick up that torch.”

In its inaugural year, the program is providing more than 200 children with breakfast and lunch five days of the week. It has the capacity to serve 300.

“We knew there was additional need in the summer, yet we were blown away by the response to this program. Our team has done an incredible job launching this initiative on top of their workload with other services we offer,” Family Sharing Executive Director Julie Hoover said.

Families receive bags of food and milk and a menu describing what the meals includes.

“Each meal meets a certain number of requirements. It’s all balanced,” Savage said.

The program is through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Family Sharing gets reimbursed for all the food it buys for the program.

“That’s the incentive for different agencies to take this work on,” Savage said. “If all goes well, there’s no major investment needed other than the staffing.”

The USDA, he said, has been trying to expand the program across the country. 

One key element helped the program to be offered in Ozaukee County, and another cut red tape for families seeking to get help.

The Summer Food Service Program requires locations to be rural, and most of Ozaukee County, including Grafton where the meals are assembled, meets that standard, Savage said.

The other key is that distribution takes place in the parking lot of the Feith Family YMCA in Saukville. Census data shows a number of children eligible for free and reduced meal services in that area, which allows Family Sharing to be reimbursed for the food costs and eliminates families from having to go through an application and income-verification process. They just sign up with no questions asked.

Each Monday morning, about 20 volunteers assemble the meals on the first and second floors of Family Sharing in Grafton. Savage has it down to clockwork.

“There’s an assembly line upstairs, in the pantry lobby and the garage attached to the pantry,” he said.

Meals must include 8 ounces of milk and fruits, vegetables, grains and protein. Each child receives five breakfasts and five lunches.

“Our team has done a wonderful job planning and building the meals,” Savage said.

Food is loaded into a refrigerated truck, and each Monday afternoon is distributed at the YMCA’s parking lot. Savage checks in clients in the drive-up line and a few volunteers help direct traffic and hand out meals.

Savage recognizes some of the people as clients from other Family Sharing services.

Hoover said the program could help Family Sharing reach more people in need.

“We hope that it has introduced parents to services that they weren’t aware of. I hope they can get the assistance they need year-round,” she said.

Applying for the Summer Food Service Program took months. Once Savage found out Family Sharing was approved, he had mere weeks to gather volunteers.

“The team that we have — Kera Karagodski, Anna Kolbach and Megan Zingelman — and all of our volunteers were able to put the foot on the gas and get this up and running in a matter of weeks,” he said. “It was incredible. We are eternally grateful to them.”

The contract allows Family Sharing to run the program as long as it can, and it prevents nearby organizations, likely any in Ozaukee County, from doubling the service. Sheboygan and Milwaukee counties could run the program if approved, Savage said.

“It’s ours to hold as many summers as we want to do this. It really put Family Sharing as a leader in child summer nutrition,” he said.

Savage found the program as one of many federal food initiatives while working at Hunger Task Force, where he was the head liaison between the food bank and 170 partner agencies across the state. 

Bringing the program to Family Sharing has had a profound impact on Savage as well as the children it serves.

“It’s the biggest thing that I’ve done in my anti-hunger career, and seeing this all come to fruition has been absolutely incredible,” he said. “Knowing the help this is providing to people is truly meaningful.”

Savage joined Hunger Task Force in 2022 after an awakening during the quarantines of the pandemic. The Mequon native with a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a master’s degree in political science from Marquette had worked in public affairs for years.

“I wanted to do something with life and more than what I was doing,” he said.

His role at Family Sharing does the trick. He is happy to make the daily return to the area where he grew up from his home in Milwaukee. 

“This is the best job and the best moment I’ve ever had in my life,” he said. “I drive to work happy, I leave happy, and I’m happy when I’m there.”

For information on donating to or volunteering with Family Sharing, visit www.familysharingozaukee.org.