Photo credit: Erin Berge
Sherrie Tussler, executive director at Hunger Task Force
Hunger Task Force has been providing breakfast, lunch and dinner to low-income children, families and seniors since 1974, without sacrificing the dignity of those in need.
Knowing how difficult it is to ask for help, Hunger Task Force is committed to giving options for healthy eating through donations from the community, corporate sponsors and fruits and vegetables sourced from the Hunger Task Force Farm.
Sherrie Tussler, executive director at Hunger Task Force, spoke with the Shepherd Express on why the pantry serves as a “public health mechanism,” why dignity is important and what the community can do to help end hunger.
Photo credit: Erin Berge
Hunger Task Force donated items
What is Hunger Task Force’s main mission?
Our mission is to make sure that people are fed today and that we end future hunger. You don’t end hunger by feeding people. But, as long as you’re feeding them, you should give them food that’s good for them. I always say to people, you should donate foods that you would give to your best friend when they were in trouble. If your best friend had a house fire, you wouldn’t show up with a box of ramen noodles and say good luck, you’d bring over a nice casserole that you made for them. [And we also look at] the federal nutrition programs. Our federal agency is the United States Department of Agriculture, and they have a whole host of programs that help eliminate hunger in the United States.
What would you say is Hunger Task Force’s biggest accomplishment?
I would say our biggest accomplishment is maintaining ourselves as a free and local food bank. Over the years, a lot of groups have been franchised by a group called Feeding America, but Hunger Task Force is a proud Wisconsin organization where we were established here in Milwaukee, by people in Milwaukee and we serve people in Milwaukee. And we never, ever charge for food.
The website says that Hunger Task Force provides food for families with dignity. Could you expand a little more about the word dignity?
Absolutely, it’s one of our core values. Justice, compassion, good stewardship and dignity [are our core values]. But dignity is the one that resonates with most people. We serve a lot of kids, and we serve a lot of seniors, and food that would otherwise be wasted is not the food that the Hunger Task Force is passing on. We don’t think that kids and seniors are dumpsters. We think that they are people, and so if it’s something that you don’t want to sell at a grocery store, then it should go into the dumpster.
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There are number of federal agencies who actually recommend food waste by donating your used or outdated food to the poor. The issue of dignity, giving people the same thing you would give to your best friend, is such a cultural norm here, and we hope to convey it throughout the food pantry network.
For example, say you were so down that you need help with emergency food, you’ve been skipping meals, and now you’re facing the idea that maybe your kids are going to start skipping meals. You don’t want people to treat you poorly, and if you get there and they welcome you and they say, “here, walk through, here’s a bag, pick the things that work for you, the things that you can cook at home. The things that are familiar based on your culture or your religion.” That inspires that dignity piece for everybody, and I think that Milwaukee is very unique because that core value is consistent throughout our network.
What has been your most rewarding experience with Hunger Task Force?
Sometimes I go to a summer meal site, and I see 150 kids pour in over the course of a half an hour. From big to little, they eat their meal. These kids are being fed, and it’s the right thing to do to obviously feed a kid when they are in your care, but to know that so many of these children are not going hungry, it just feels really, really good.
Who have been Hunger Task Force’s biggest supporters among the legislators?
Hunger doesn’t really know a political party, and so we’ve gotten great support from lots of people here in Milwaukee County who wanted to make sure that Hunger Task Force is treated equally and reasonably. Anywhere from the lieutenant governor’s office; state representatives, like Danny Riemer (D) and Evan Goyke (D), have been great supporters; and Tim Carpenter (D) and Rob Hutton (R).
Good people get to know you, and they try their best to make a system work because obviously Milwaukee County really can be treated unfairly in the broader scope of Wisconsin politics. We’re a place of deep poverty, we’re a place that’s racially different from the rest of the state, and we often get judged. A number of our legislators have just said, “no, […] we’re going to make it right for people.”
What is Hunger Task Force supporting at the state level?
We’re trying to increase access to food and make it more normal, so we are working on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) with our welfare office right now. It’s not [run very well] in Milwaukee. We would like to see it provide self-service to the customers there. You can apply online now for SNAP, you don’t have to go to the Welfare office, but if you do, you should be treated well. The welfare office could allow customers to serve themselves, rather than to wait in line to get the care that they need when their SNAP case isn’t working.
We have a self-service welfare office on Mitchell Street. People walk in, they use our equipment, they get technical support or advice from us. It is a cheaper way to run a welfare office, and it’s more dignified again. I’m taking care of myself, my business is my own, not everybody needs a social worker in their life just because they are poor. They just need a little bit of help. We work really hard to try to get the welfare office to run in a way that’s effective and doesn’t maltreat low-income people and people of color.
How can those in the community help Hunger Task Force address this issue of hunger in Milwaukee?
There are two ways. The first one is the easy one: You can donate food or money. People know how to do that, for the most part. The next step is the harder way, which is to get involved with our Voices Against Hunger program, and then they can be advocates; they can remind people as elections are coming up.
It’s actually a good thing to do; it makes you feel more empowered, and it’s really important for everyone to realize that their voice matters. And when everyone’s voice is banded together, it usually gets taken care of.
As an example, we were part of an organizing strategy with high school kids who wanted the quality of their food improved. So those kids used their phones to take pictures of their food, and the pictures said so much. They attended public hearings, school board hearings, and they were able to pass regulations within the public schools to improve the amount and types of fruits and vegetables they received on their plates and to get utensils. I don’t know how one eats meat without a knife and fork, but they were given sporks. And [they needed] to get plates and trays back because they were getting served out of paper cups. Which is super un-dignified. Those high school kids were able to organize, and their voice made a difference.
