For the Rapids City Times

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The South Wood Emerging Pantry Shelf (SWEPS) announced the impact of four years of mobile food pantries brought to the South Wood County area.

In partnering with Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin, The Neighborhood Table and other area supporters, SWEPS helped bring 16 mobile food pantries to South Wood County, serving about 18,000 people in almost 6,000 households. The amount of food distributed is estimated to total about 320,000 pounds.

Dale Bikowski, board member and treasurer of SWEPS, said, “It takes the efforts of many volunteers to organize and distribute food at these mobile food pantries. We wouldn’t be able to have these pantries without the 60 some dedicated volunteers that help each time. The support we receive from the community is exceptional and essential. We can’t thank our volunteers enough for their efforts to make our community a better place for our residents.

Representatives from SWEPS and The Neighborhood Table orchestrated and recruited the volunteers needed to execute each mobile food pantry.

Details of future mobile food pantries will be promoted on the SWEPS of Wisconsin Rapids Facebook page and www.swepspantry.org, as well as The Neighborhood Table’s Facebook page and www.theneighborhoodtable.org.