Many of us sit down on Thanksgiving Day to enjoy big turkey dinners with all the trimmings. And, as we're biting into that slice of pumpkin pie, it's all too easy to forget that there are others right here in Milwaukee who will have difficulty providing their families with day-to-day meals, let alone a traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
But, thanks to FoodFightMKE, a creative initiative headed up by four Milwaukee college students, there's something you can do to help. And all it takes is five minutes, $10 and a quick text from your cell phone.
FoodFightMKE was the brainchild of Jigsaw OrangeAid interns Joel Rottier from UW-Milwaukee, Bryan Padovano from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Sallie Stacker and Dominic Mertens-Pellitteri from Marquette University.
"We were given the opportunity to choose an issue we were passionate about and find a solution," Mertens-Pellitteri said. "We wanted to create something meaningful and fighting hunger was the obvious choice since so many people in our community are affected by the issue."
As part of the group's launch activities last Friday, they partnered with nine bars in the Milwaukee area in a unique effort to get their message across to college students. Each bar agreed to display coasters featuring attention-getting messages like "wake up with a pounding sense of accomplishment." The flip side of each coaster featured a call to action encouraging people to text the word "FOOD" to 52000 to make an automatic $10 donation to Hunger Task Force. In conjunction with this effort, a FoodFightMKE street team hit the streets, visiting each bar, asking people to donate and handing out "I Gave Hunger the Finger" t-shirts.
"Hunger Task Force loves the spirit of community involvement and cutting-edge humor demonstrated by the students of FoodFightMKE," says Sherrie Tussler, executive director of Hunger Task Force. "Their stuff is genius and carries our message to a crowd of next generation people who can help us end hunger in our city."
And FoodFightMKE's unique approach is meeting with success. In its first week alone, the group raised over $500 for hungry families. They hope to raise an additional $5,000 through texting during the remainder of their campaign, which is set to run through Dec. 31.
FoodFight's next event will take place Friday, Dec. 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. at AJ Bombers. The students will be guest bartending, offering a special drink called The Hunger Hammer to participating patrons, and promoting their cause with great door prizes.
FoodFightMKE will also participate in the Soup and Bread event, to be held at the Riverwest Public House Dec. 15 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
For more information and updates about future events, visit foodfightmke.tumblr.com or follow @FoodFightMKE on Twitter.
For additional information on the OrangeAid internship program, visit makeorangeaid.com.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
