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School district food drive renews faith in the spirit of the community

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Janesville Schools Food Drive

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JANESVILLE — If you’ve ever doubted the spirit of the good people in this community, you could have restored your faith by getting up at 5:30 a.m. Saturday and going to the annual holiday food drive distribution.

There it was, just four weeks since a front-page story in The Janesville Gazette announced the drive was gone forever after consecutive 25 years.

The employees and management of the Janesville School District stepped in where the UAW and GM had left off, raising $40,000, well beyond their fund-raising dreams.

The hand-off from the workers at the defunct GM plant to the workers of the Janesville School District was nearly seamless.

More than 200 people from the schools, from GM and from all over the community gave up sleep and gift-shopping Saturday to help neighbors in need.

Pork & beans, peanut butter, graham crackers.

“Somebody needs to do this. I would hope that if someday something happens to me, I’d get help,” said Dick Kath, a retiree from LSI.

“It’s a pay-it-forward plan. I’m a firm believer in that,” said Kath’s wife Brenda, a maintenance supervisor for Frito-Lay in Beloit.

Corn muffin mix, rice, gelatin mix, eggs.

Many hands made light work with two stuffed-to-the-gills semitrailer loads of food. The goods were stacked, sorted, bagged and headed out the doors of a south-side warehouse by 9 a.m.

Each delivery to a needy family included 10 bags of groceries, milk, potatoes and flats of canned goods. Food drive founder and expert Nancy Nienhuis estimated the bags added up to three weeks of food for the average family.

Spaghettios, canned ham, carrots, hot dogs, toothpaste.

“This is just so incredible, how the community and the school district have come together to make this happen,” Superintendent Karen Schulte said to the assembled volunteers as they began their work in the voluminous warehouse.

The volunteers applauded when Schulte reminded them that the community had raised so much in less than three weeks.

Brownie mix, marshmallows, hot cocoa mix, cough drops, corn flakes.

Some things haven’t changed. GM food drive organizers Nienhuis and Marv Wopat were still there to oversee the operation, as they have done from the beginning.

“I see some people who’ve been doing this 25 years with us,” Wopat told the crowd. “It’s a miracle the school system picked it up and ran with it.”

Brown sugar, clam chowder, instant noodle soup, saltine crackers, grape jelly.

“I thought we were organized until I ran into them,” Nienhuis said of the school district workers who pulled the event together. But it was clear that the experience of the GM workers helped.

“People from GM at our table were giving us advice on how to organize things,” said Madison School Principal Veronica McMahon.

“It’s surprisingly fast,” said a cheerful Steve Thiering, head custodian at Madison School.

“It was a work of art. It was like a dance, and the GM people had it all figured out,” said Madison School teacher Kathie Koebler.

“We have a lot of families at our school getting bags, so I’m grateful, said McMahon said.

Gingerbread cookie mix, cheese, dinner rolls, margarine, ground beef, spaghetti.

Eric Malterer, 13, and his sister Haley, 11, came with their dad, a former GM’er, Tim.

Eric had done it before. “He’s been dying to come back,” Tim said.

It was Haley’s first time on the grocery-bag assembly line. She said she was not pleased about getting up early, “But I’m excited to be here and help.”

“I was just thankful somebody was going to take it over, because that’s a lot of people who are being helped each year,” Tim said.

“There are so many people that depend on it, and especially with the loss of jobs with GM, a lot of people in the community are really hurting,” Nienhuis said.

“Look at the kids that are here,” Nienhuis added. “It’s really a community thing.”

Pancake mix, T.P., shampoo, cereal, bananas.

And it’s not over. There’s next year, which might be bigger than ever. Schulte said she has challenged the superintendents of the other Rock County school districts to get involved in 2010.

At the end, Wopat and Schulte stood together, watching the groceries go out the door to waiting cars and trucks, as Wopat made notes of how to make next year’s drive better.

Apples, oranges, sugar, flour, Hamburger Helper, and one thing that you might not see inside the bag: a lot of caring, a lot of smiles.