The Sheboygan County Food Bank truck. — Submitted photo

Sheboygan — In 2020, Sheboygan County Food Bank (SCFB) faced several challenges due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in our community. The most significant task was to effectively respond to the historically high levels of demand on our emergency food network amid a drastic decrease in our donated food supply. With health safety concerns, in May of 2020 we endured the cancellation of our second largest food drive event, Stamp Out Hunger, and also a temporary suspension of all of our community food drives and our grocery store gleaning program, causing substantial loss of food donations.

We are sincerely grateful to Making Spirits Bright for their efforts in safely coordinating their family-friendly event and our largest annual food drive. Making Spirit Bright’s record-breaking collection of 157,140 pounds of food — which tacked on to create an impressive 737,198-pound collection grand total for our nine-year partnership — was not only truly special, but also critical for Sheboygan County. We express our gratitude to Making Spirits Bright and each of our generous community members who volunteered, donated food at Making Spirits Bright, or hosted a food drive out in the community, to ultimately support our neighbors going through challenging times.

Making sure no one in Sheboygan County goes hungry requires dedication and key partners like Making Spirits Bright. In 2020, SCFB was able to distribute over 2,500,000 pounds of food (200% increase from 2019) through our Sheboygan Cares Drive-Thru Food Pantry and 16 partner food pantries, serving approximately 5,000 families each month and as many as 9,465 families within just one month in 2020. We look forward to continuing to work together in 2021 to respond to this crisis and be there for children, families, and seniors who are counting on us — thank you!

SCFB anticipates that many more of our neighbors will continue to feel the economic effects and depend on our partner food pantries and organizations within emergency food network in 2021. Monetary donations will continue to be critical and the easiest, safest way to help. To donate online now and for the latest updates, resources, and FAQs related to emergency food in Sheboygan County, please visit our website at SheboyganCountyFoodBank.com