‘Big Give’ helps ECHO, Salvation Army with cash, food
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Volunteer Kathy Voskuil, left, accepts two bags of nonperishable food items dropped off at Logli grocery store by Susan Foulkes of Janesville during The Big Give in Janesville on Saturday.
JANESVILLE — Janesville City Council Member Tom McDonald stood at the south entrance at Woodman’s Food Market in Janesville on Saturday, alongside a half-dozen volunteers who were lined up at rows of food donation barrels.
A man came out of the store with thee bags of groceries in his shopping cart. He dropped two of the bags into one of the donation barrels and wheeled off.
“Man, if everybody coming out today donated 75 percent of their groceries, we’d be set,” said McDonald.
Sue Baumgartner of Janesville, a volunteer for the Salvation Army, smiled as she took stock of the man’s donation: He’d left mandarin oranges; peanut butter, oatmeal, spaghetti sauce, macaroni and more.
Baumgartner and McDonald were two of a host of volunteers from the city of Janesville, the Janesville City Council, ECHO of Janesville and the Salvation Army who were trying to raise nonperishable food donations on Saturday.
The groups were partnering with several Janesville grocers Saturday at the “Big Give,” a cooperative effort to replenish local food supplies at ECHO and the Salvation Army.
Other locations for the food drive included Pick ’n Save, Logli, Daniels Sentry stores on East Milwaukee and West Court streets, and Basics Cooperative Natural Foods.
The drive Saturday was the second “Big Give” food drive. The first drive, held in October 2010, received 5,500 pounds of food along with $1,700 in cash—enough for 11,000 meals for Janesville-area families, according to the city of Janesville.
Saturday’s effort fell short compared to the drive last fall. According to ECHO director Karen Lisser, the drive raised about 4,600 pounds of food and just over $1,000 in donations.
ECHO and the Salvation Army will split the donations.
Lisser said the total of donations Saturday will help ECHO and the Salvation Army to provide at least 9,200 meals for local families.
Lisser said that’s crucial, because ECHO alone has seen at least a 10 percent increase in demand for services. She said ECHO prepares and distributes a maximum of 40 meal orders a day for local residents, and the organization has a need for food donations year round.
Lisser said between emerging uncertainty with federal and state funded programs in recent weeks and gasoline price increases, people in financial need could have more difficulty making ends meet in coming months.
She said those same circumstances also could temper the ability for the public to donate money or items to charitable causes, and could impact ECHO and other organizations’ ability to meet the needs of local residents.
“It’s hard to tell. It’s just a very uncertain time,” Lisser said.
Meanwhile, the city plans to continue partnering with ECHO and the Salvation Army in future food drives.
The three groups plan another “Big Give” food drive in the fall, said city council member Kathy Voskuil, who along with the rest of the city council, volunteered at the food drive Saturday.
“We want to make this drive become a mark-your-calendar event,” Voskuil said. “The need is certainly there, and probably even greater than ever. This is just one way that we can try to make Janesville a better place to live.”
Apr 12, 2011 at 3:15 p.m.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq-hx73or...
thought this was appropriate.
Apr 11, 2011 at 5:05 p.m.
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If you're giving to charities such as this including the "Save Janesville's Schools" fund drive, but support Scott Walker's contributors and his assault on the Wisconsin's working poor and unemployed - it's time for a reality check.
Apr 11, 2011 at 4:17 p.m.
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I see this topic both ways. I have a regular schedule of dropping off 3 or 4 bags of groceries at ECHO. When I do this, I am quietly hoping they will be distributed to people that really need it.
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Now on to Sandman's comments. While I do not fully agree with the full content of his post, I see where he's going with those thoughts. I had a deadbeat living next to me that rode the system for everything it was worth. He didn't work, had a wife and 3 kids and they were never without anything. I always go with the credo that you can not judge a man without walking a mile in his shoes, but the day he laughed at me because I had to go to work on a beautiful sunny day, that was it. It opened my eyes to the fact some people are lazy slobs and will milk the system. Sandman is not 100% wrong in his assessment.
Apr 11, 2011 at 3:38 p.m.
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i gave my donation to hooters instead.
Apr 11, 2011 at 1:22 p.m.
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BTW- I do help and donate to those who DO
need the help. It is sad that lots abuse the system. No I don't hear from him, who told me. I see the abuse first hand.
Apr 11, 2011 at 1:20 p.m.
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sandman- well said- tired of seeing this on and on and then onto the MULTI kids.
Apr 11, 2011 at 12:32 p.m.
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Making this the last time a food drive is necessary would be great. It would be a great goal.
Apr 11, 2011 at 10:10 a.m.
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There is a real nice feeling that comes from giving. Giving without even hearing somebody say thank you is still a nice feeling. Lots of times the reason for weighing 300 pounds is from depression and it is easy to be depressed in Janesville where there are so many who just do not care. It is refreshing to hear and read about people who do care and it is not good to read comments about those who really do not care about others than themselves. We all are born in the fetal position and we all die in the fetal position. It is what we do for others that really counts. If you are in need of help, along side of the road in a broken down car, the chance of a poor person stopping to help is greater than a nice fit person who works out at the club. When in trouble seek help from a person who has been in trouble and they usually will be there for you.
Apr 11, 2011 at 10:07 a.m.
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Sandman\
"-and giving them more free stuff, will only exacerbate their dependencies, not alleviate them, and will chip away at any (illusory?) sense of "responsibility" and "self-worth" they (and their children) still might possess."
Giving people who NEED food will do ALL of that? wow!... well, I never REALLY thought of it THAT way before...ok,ok..you are right.. stop the food drives....AND LET THEM STARVE,
WE all know "Sandman" that a hungry hound hunts best......
Apr 11, 2011 at 9:35 a.m.
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How sad. An article about a community making attempts to look out for the community, and a few people on this site act like jerks with comments that are simply pathetic.
I would also point out that frequently, the least inexpensive food, which is all some people can afford, is the processed junk with little nutritional value. So, just because someone may be '300' lbs, it doesn't mean that they are inappropriately using any assistance that they may be receiving.
Tosser, Lemke and Sandman, I feel sorry for you. When you are down on your luck, I hope I can help you out.
Apr 11, 2011 at 9:15 a.m.
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I wonder while you are recounting these tales told by a friend of a friend, because we all know how reliable that is, if you recall the man who was found frozen to death this last year, who just happen to be homeless. Funny, how a probably made up story about a guy buying T-bones is more important than a actual person who died in this very city in the last year. I am ashamed to read these comments and realize you are the kind of people who live in this community.
Apr 11, 2011 at 8:46 a.m.
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Actually, Lemke10 has made the most pertinent observation thus far...where are all the hungry people? I doubt that any "poor" in any other country in the world are more obese than those in the US!
Sorry, but while I do support the basic premise of these drives --temporary assistance to those "in need"--I can't help but wonder...in a state with 700,000 people on food stamps and with all the assistance and supplemental services (including for power bills) available on little or no proof of need whether or not we aren't perpetuating the problem and creating a false sense of dependency, however well-meaning we might be.
I spoke with a local grocery store operator recently who remarked, "About the only people who buy high-end, name-brand cigarettes anymore are those on food stamps and Quest cards." Another person who worked at a local grocery recalled commenting to a man who brought a number of t-bone steaks to her check-out counter, "Those will be good on the grill." The man said, "I don't eat that ****--those are for my dog," and then paid for the steaks with a Quest card. Wow! If someone has have money for cigarettes, fancy nails, hair extensions, smart phones, ISP hook-ups, computers, cable or satellite, and a vehicle or two (often nicer than those driven by the people who don't get "benefits" but have to fund them), or if they can buy t-bones (whether for their dogs or not), if they have money for dates and drinks and drugs, then they are suffering from an inability to manage and prioritize, not a lack of food--and giving them more free stuff, sustaining an unsustainable lifestyle for them, will only exacerbate their dependencies, not alleviate them, and will chip away at any (illusory?) sense of "responsibility" and "self-worth" they (and their children) still might possess.
Compassion is...TRUTH, and just because giving food or money away to a charity makes you feel good doesn't mean it is in the best interests of those that receive. Rewarding sloth in the long-run many times just ingrains sloth. And just because the opinion of others doesn't coincide with your opinion doesn't mean it isn't a valid point! Perhaps they SEE a different world than you do (or at least view this one with their eyes wide open)!
Apr 11, 2011 at 7:18 a.m.
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Being 300 pounds has nothing to do with being hungry or not hungry. One can be poor at any weight. Lots of times people eat food they should not eat because food with high fat content makes them feel better. It is called comfort food for a reason. Just because a person is overweight does not make them a bad person, We are all just people and most of us want and need the same things. There are a lot of snobs in Janesville and someday all of you snobs will experience something that will make you more humble. Wait and see.
Apr 10, 2011 at 5:24 p.m.
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There are people in need of food? I don't see too many people that are skin and bones in Janesville and the surrounding area, but their sure are a lot of overweight people. The best ones are the 300+ plus people on Food Stamps. Seems if they can weigh that much they don't need as much money as they are getting from the hardworking people of Wisconsin.
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