Food pantries and meal programs are bursting at the seams because of the down economy.
Another program that’s serving more people, in fact 8,000 families a month, is SHARE Wisconsin.
For nearly a quarter century, it’s bought huge quantities of food and then sold it at low prices to people trying to stretch their budgets.
SHARE has been able to hold prices down because it has little overhead, and is largely staffed by volunteers.
Now the group is taking its food on the road, setting-up makeshift grocery shops in the heart of Milwaukee where stores are scarce.
WUWM Environmental Reporter Susan Bence hopped on SHARE’s mobile market to see how it works.
Alisha Klapps still has details to tend to before we head out this morning. We’re at a large warehouse in Butler where people are loading groceries into the truck.
“Okay, so I’m thinking 9 9:30 is when we’d leave. I still need to print out some menus.,” Klapps says.
Menu in the SHARE world means the list of items available at today’s sale. Olive oil at $3.50 per pint and bags of frozen chicken nuggets for less than six dollars; both have been selling well this month.
Klapps heads off to the copy machine, while Antonio Butts and I walk through SHARE’s warehouse. He coordinates the Mobile Market program.
“How did you find your way to SHARE,” I ask.
“I had a little convenience store in my neighborhood. I live over in Riverwest. The store was struggling,” Butts says.
Butts doesn’t let on, but he was actually recruited for this job. The 37 year old just says he transitioned from selling a can of soup or a slice of pizza in his shop to something bigger.
“Who would have known that out of a store, I would end up in the largest food distribution program in the area. And then learning about social enterprise, you know as far as helping people, but finding a way to help people help themselves,” Butts says.
Butts double checks to make sure the truck is properly loaded and then climbs behind the wheel.
We head seven miles east to a job center. It’s one place the group knows it will find people needing food at inexpensive prices.
Butts maneuvers around construction cones to get into the parking lot. Nothing seems to faze him.
“Well, the might mobile market,” Butts laughs.
His coworker, Alisha Klapps is already inside, covering long tables with plastic tablecloths.
“We also lay out these table signs. And then you display it as if it was in a grocery store. Sometimes do a little pyramid with the cans or something. All pro duce go in these baskets, better displaying,” Klapps says.
Antonio Butts darts from task to task, helping set up the frozen food display, running a sign to the other side of the building. He’s also chatting with people along the way.
“Let people know, llike today we’ve got some collard greens in produce. So you run around, ‘we’ve got collard greens today.’ You know, just having fun,” Butts says.
It’s his way of creating the mobile market shopping experience.
“We want people to feel comfortable,” Butts says.
The greens have caught the attention of Felicia Powell. The security guard says staff and clients shop here.
“For that end of the month, when your food is getting low for some families, this kicks right just in time, just in time,” Powell says.
Powell will be shopping too before her shift ends. She has a family to feed.
“Well, one is in the Navy and I’ve got two in college, so it’s like five at home. And even for the college ones, showing them how to stretch a little food, you can do this and do that. So yeah, it helps out for me a lot,” Powell says.
The food SHARE brings to its mobile market is priced reasonable, as low as the program can manage.
In summer, fresh produce is popular.
The group also wants to enable families to make healthy food choices.
So besides offering chicken nuggets, for example, shoppers can select chicken breasts. Next to that display is a stack of recipes for “homemade chicken nuggets”. The instructions call for baking, rather than frying the chicken.
One shopper, Doris plans to cook up frozen stir fry vegetables she found here today.
“And you see this? The extra virgin olive oil? Ain’t that a deal,” Doris says.
“Do you work here or are you a client,” I ask.
“No I just came to shop,” Doris says.
“How did you learn about it,” I ask.
“I just came in to bring in my nephew and I saw all this vegetables and fruits and stuff, so I said okay, I’m going to shop and get some of this good old stuff for these good old prices,” Doris says.
Doris says shopping wisely gets her through the month. She’s feeding her six grandchildren.
Dick Tompson isn’t here to shop.
“I’m with Crossroads Urban Center, Salt Lake City, Utah,” Tompson says.
He hopes to create a program like this back home. Tompson says people are hurting there too.
“Some of them would love to have is this kind of alternative. They want to feel independent. They want to be able to sustain themselves and they want some help, though they might not say so, right? I mean, we know that from talking to Antonio that it’s not going to happen overnight, but we’ve got to get it rolling,” Tompson says.
After this sale, Antonio and his crew will pack up, drive across town to the next market site and set up all over again.
His dream is to someday return to the SHARE warehouse with an empty truck, because that will mean a lot more people will be taking advantage of the program.
This week SHARE has distributed more than 14,000 Thanksgiving dinners around the state. Christmas dinner orders will be next.
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