Racine County Food Bank logo
According to the USDA, 44.2 million Americans lived in households with food insecurity in 2022. There was also a 45 percent increase of food insecurity in households that included children. In light of these statistics, many of the local volunteers and nonprofit leaders have been hard at work to end hunger locally.
Since 1983, the Racine County Food Bank has been aiding families in need with services such as providing annual holiday meal boxes and holding events such as the “Thoughts for Food” concerts where canned goods are the price of admission. These special activities help support the huge job of providing meal supplements on a weekly basis for hundreds of families and distributing food to pantries throughout Racine County. In 2023, the food bank welcomed the Kenosha Food Bank into its headquarters to address 17.3 % of children in Kenosha who suffer from food insecurity.
Thoughts for Food 2024 banner
The Thoughts for Food event returns to the Racine Eagles Club on March 2 for its 32nd year. On March 4, the food bank will aid HALO (Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization) with their 17th annual Empty Bowls event. The Racine County Food Bank’s executive director, Dan Taivalkoski, offered his insights on the organization’s approach, the wider context of food insecurity, and what the future holds.
Describe your history with this organization.
I got involved through the Thoughts for Food event. I had a little tavern on Racine’s North Side called The Beacon and we were looking for a way to help the community, so we glommed onto the event when it was at George’s Tavern and the Eagles Club. I went on to chair that event several years later. Then in 2004, my predecessor, Tom Berger, was leaving the organization, I then applied for the position and was hired. I’ll be here for twenty years as of July 1.
Walk us through a typical day or week at the food bank.
We are a warehouse, primarily. Our job is to make sure food and money to purchase food is equitably shared among all of the hunger fighting organizations through Racine County. One of the things I oversee is making sure there’s enough funds to operate and to pay staff along with overhead. Another responsibility is managing donations, donors and food drives. There’s large scale food drives such as the Letters Carriers Food Drive in May that we manage on behalf of the hunger agencies in the county. Once we collect the food, we sort it into nutritional categories and equitably distribute them to all fourteen pantries throughout Racine.
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Have you seen the discourse around hunger and the sociological causes develop over the years?
The root cause of all hunger is basically traced to finances. If you have the means to go out and purchase food, you’re not hungry. The single best resource to fight hunger, in my opinion, is the food share program. It allows people to go directly to the grocery store and purchase the items they actually need rather than us choosing for them. We noticed when all the resources were scaled up during covid and the food share benefits were increased for recipients, we saw a dramatic decline in clients accessing our services. That’s a good way to fight hunger as it allows clients to go directly to the grocery store and get what they need.
How has the community influenced your organization’s work?
The food bank is blessed with a broad base of community support. When I first took over, I started with an empty checkbook and a scheduled move. We had to do a brand-new build out and had all of these big expenses looming on the horizon with no money, so I went into a panic mode. The community came through us and that for me, is truly amazing. If we don’t need help at the moment, you won’t see me out trying to fundraise. The donors respect that and the only time they hear from me when I’m truly in need. It’s made me really appreciate the Racine community and the folks that live here, they’re truly generous.
Photo by Michael Gibson
Full Flavor playing at Thoughts for Food 2023
Full Flavor playing at Thoughts for Food 2023
The main focus of “Thoughts for Food” is to collect food and funds to feed hungry people. The monetary component of that has become more important to us because it allows us to purchase what we need as opposed to relying only on donations. In addition to raising funds, the event also raises awareness and keeps us in the public eye. It has benefits beyond the actual event because people see us out there which helps to generate more funds.
What do you hope to accomplish in the coming year?
We want to continue having the resources available to ensure we can continue providing services to those who need it in the years ahead.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
My sincere thanks to those in the community who have been so supportive of this organization through the years. It’s heartwarming to see how generous folks in our community are in terms of giving funds, giving food or the time they donate. We live in an amazing community: the Walden School Food Drive has become the second largest food drive, surpassing The Boy Scouts Food Drive these last few years. Those kids are amazing and if they’re our future leaders of our community, I think we’re in a really good place.
For more information, visit https://www.thoughtsforfood.org/
