Dane County Set to Provide Millions in Emergency Food Supplies to Help Local Pantries Respond to Inflation

May 05, 2022
Ariana Vruwink, 608-267-8823
County Executive

Dane County will allocate $2.75 million to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin to help families struggling with the high cost of groceries, County Executive Joe Parisi announced today.

Parisi saw firsthand this week the impact that increased food costs are having on local families when he toured the Badger Prairie Needs Network in Verona.

“The line of cars I saw and volunteers shuttling bags and carts of food to families in need was a stark reminder of the work the county helps make happen every day in this community to try and lift folks up,” Parisi said. “Badger Prairie Needs Network runs their operation out of a county-owned facility and the staff there informed me they've seen a marked increase in demand for food in the past 60 days. The timing of this new support for Second Harvest—which helps provide food for the pantry I visited—couldn't be better.”

The County Board will consider final passage of a resolution tonight that increases and extends Dane County's 2022 contract with Second Harvest. Under this proposal, the county will provide the food pantry with $750,000 monthly for the rest of this year. The majority of those funds will be used to purchase Dane County grown and sourced products under an emergency food relief program the county launched with Second Harvest and local growers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the partnership, first launched in the spring of 2020, Dane County has allocated $26.75 million to help buy food for families in need.