Security Health Plan: Donates $1000 to Stanley-Boyd Food Pantry

CONTACT: Rebecca Normington, 715-221-9726, normington.rebecca@securityhealth.org

Security Health Plan donates $1000 to Stanley-Boyd Food Pantry

MARSHFIELD – The Stanley-Boyd Food Pantry will receive $1,000 from Security Health Plan’s Monthly Employee-Driven Corporate Giving campaign, funding dedicated to organizations such as the Stanley-Boyd Food Pantry that make a healthy difference in their communities.

The donation is earmarked for the Food Pantry’s Weekend Kids’ Meals program, which supplies two lunches, two breakfasts and a snack for students in the Stanley-Boyd school district whose families would otherwise have trouble providing food for them over the weekend. Parents sign their children up for participation in the program.

“The number of lockers I see brown bags in on Friday afternoon is mind-blowing,” said the anonymous Security Health Plan nominator. “My son comes home telling me he shared his food with his friends because they couldn’t eat lunch otherwise. It has to be so challenging to admit you need help, but as a parent, thinking of my children going hungry is the scariest thing in the world.”

The three-year-old Weekend Kids’ Meals program currently feeds 97 children each week. The Food Pantry also feeds 23 high school students from a choice pantry in the Stanley-Boyd high school on a weekly basis. Monthly the choice pantry it operates out of Our Savior Lutheran Church supplies 100 families, including 28 home-bound seniors, with much-needed food. The church donates the space for food storage and the open pantry that takes place on the first Thursday of each month. The food is donated by community members or purchased from the Feed My People Food Bank.

In the past, the Food Pantry struggled to recruit enough volunteers to stay open, but now, the Pantry is lucky to have 40-50 volunteers per month, including student volunteers from Stanley’s Open Door School. The Pantry’s greatest need, however, is donations for purchasing food.

“The families we feed are one sickness or one paycheck away from not making it,” said Deb Mai, who runs the Food Pantry. “We are always happy for non-perishable food donations, but monetary donations are what keep our doors open. We can buy 10 times the worth of your donated food items with donated money, because we purchase in bulk from the Food Bank.”

This month’s donation from Security Health Plan is a timely one, since the Pantry is in the midst of a Feed My People Food Bank match campaign, the Food For More Challenge: The Food Bank will donate an extra pound of food for every dollar raised by the Pantry (up to 5,000 pounds) from now until Nov. 1.

Security Health Plan’s anonymous nominator hopes word about the Pantry will spread: “There is a high volume of need in the low-income community, but the program isn’t well known. I hope if more people know about the need there, and the program, they can help.”

Help the Stanley-Boyd Food Pantry with non-perishable food, hygiene item or monetary donations. Contact Deb Mai to learn more or to volunteer, 715-456-7540.

Every month Security Health Plan donates $1,000 as part of its Employee-Driven Corporate Giving campaign. Marshfield Clinic Health System employees are encouraged to nominate an organization that is making a positive difference in the community.