Thanks to the generosity of Milwaukeeans, a whopping $160,000 in grocery items from the Outpost Natural Foods 2015 Holiday Buy-A-Bag Program will be delivered this winter to Hunger Task Force.

In fact, just this morning, $55,000 of product was delivered to the Hunger Task Force distribution center – the equivalent of 23 pallets of fresh items, or one full semi-trailer.

_{PHOTO: Bags of potatoes were part of the morning's delivery.}

The Buy-A-Bag program, which ran during the months of November and December, empowered shoppers to add a $20 donation to their grocery tabs. For each $20 donated, Outpost purchased $40 worth of natural and organic food for donation to Hunger Task Force during the winter months. This year, customers donated over $79,000 to the program, resulting in a total of $160,000 worth of product.

"Concern for Community is one of seven international cooperative principles, core values that all co-ops unite around and operate by," says Margaret Mittelstadt, Outpost director of community relations. "Since 1999, Outpost customers have donated over $960,000 worth of natural and organic food to Hunger Task Force through the Buy-A-Bag program. Unfortunately, the need for emergency food in our neighborhoods is rising. People are going hungry. Partnerships like the one we share with Hunger Task Force really do make a difference in our community."

Filling out this year’s list of groceries is a two-pound bag of rice, jar of fruit spread, can of soup, box of hot cereal, can of beans, can of mandarin oranges, box of granola, dinner mix, three one-pound bags of organic carrots, one three-pound bag of organic apples and one five-pound bag of organic russet potatoes.