By Kellen Olshefski
Staff Writer
After six years of serving the county out of Lake Geneva, the Walworth County Food Pantry is moving on up to Elkhorn, in hopes of offering a better experience for those in need in a larger and more centralized location.
The pantry is currently at W3252 Highway H, Town of Geneva, and will be open through Dec. 30 – contrary to what was written in last week’s Time Is Now column – and reopening on Jan. 3 in its new location in the Aurora Clinic off of Highway 67 in Elkhorn, just of Interstate 43. The change in move dates is due to some unforeseen circumstances with freezer placement.
During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the pantries will be open on Tuesdays, Dec. 24 and Dec. 30, instead of Wednesday, to allow clients and volunteers to be at home with their families during the holiday.
Jim Drescher, who started the food pantry about six years ago with Sam Dimicelli of Time Is Now, Inc., said they’ve kind of outgrown the current food pantry and one of the big things he discovered was how having two levels has created some difficulties.
“We’ve made the two levels work, but for our volunteers, having a single level place is much, much better,” he said. “They’re not going upstairs once or twice, they’re going up multiple times.”
Having always been keeping the next location in mind, Drescher said he put the building up for sale several years ago and when he received an offer, he began looking for a new home for the food pantry and zeroed in on the Aurora site as its more centered in Walworth County.
“I had actually driven by, sat in that parking lot, thought this is where my food pantry should be,” he said.
Being far too expensive for Drescher to do on his own, he continued looking, though a series of events would eventually get him into his dream building.
With his wife volunteering with the Open Arms Free Clinic, Drescher said his wife came home to tell him Sara Nichols, the clinic manager, had brought up the idea of getting a building with the pantry.
“I was like, yeah, this would be great,” he said. “It’s one of those things where there is no rhyme or reason, no logical way it came together, but it came together…we’re delighted to be in the same building with them.”
Soon thereafter, seeing the opportunity to help the clinic and pantry, Drescher said Greg Kunes, of the Kunes auto group, stepped up and purchased the building for the pair.
“I approached him about being the other person in the building and he thought it was a great idea,” he said.
Drescher said they’re incredibly grateful for Kunes’ help in making the dream a reality, as well as all of his involvement in feeding the county’s hungry over the years through numerous means.
Not looking to disturb the environment of the building, Drescher said they look forward to getting in to the building, seeing how things flow and making changes as needed.
“I’m stepping out on the diving board again, hanging over the ledge again, because I want to make it better for people,” he said. “It’s kind of a goal, I’m never satisfied, I’m always driving the ball to make it a better experience for people.”
In entering the new location, Drescher said the pantry aims to not only continue to give efficient service to its clients, but additionally provide them with some new options.
Currently giving clients pre-bagged food based on family size, Drescher said they hope to be able to give clients a mini-grocery store type setting, giving them the base foods – such as rice, pasta, cereal and spaghetti sauce – in a bagged form, but also giving them more options and allowing them to make some choices, picking food off the shelf.
“It gives us a greater chance of those people using 100 percent of what we give them because they’ll have a greater choice in the matter,” he said.
Drescher said another one of their main goals is to eventually open a thrift store at the new location, offering items to clients if they need them, similar to Love Inc. in Burlington. Additionally, Drescher said the thrift store would be open at different hours than the food pantry.
Drescher noted recent clothing and merchandise donations from the Milwaukee Bucks such as promotional 7-inch basketballs and shirts.
“Whatever God gives us, we somehow figure out how to use it,” he said. “That’s nice to give out to the kids and even some of the adults.”
The Food Pantry
The Walworth County Food Pantry services anyone living within the county, unlike local pantries, which only service those living within their respective cities.
As a result, Drescher said this gives residents in need two opportunities: to go to their local pantry, and to go to the county pantry.
Typically open from 1-5 p.m. on Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturdays, Drescher said the pantry currently services about 600 client families each month, which translates to about 2,000 people with an average family size of 3.3 people.
During the months of November and December, their busiest time of the year, Drescher said they’ll likely service more than 700 families in each of the two months.
“With the stress of the downturn, a lot of people are saying, ‘hey, I used to give to the food pantry, now I’m coming to the food pantry,’” he said. “They say I drove by here for three months and I couldn’t park, I could come in, I just couldn’t do it.”
Drescher said a lot of the clients they serve fall under the category of the working poor, people who have jobs but unfortunately can’t support their families with the income they’re generating.
Currently, Drescher said they have about 2,800 names in the database, showing clients are only using the pantry when they truly need it, not simply as an opportunity to stock up on food.
“They don’t come here because they can, they come here because they need to,” he said.
When he started in the food pantry business, Drescher said the availability of product was much greater, noting while donations haven’t increased nor decreased, those in need of food has nearly tripled.
Drescher said the pantry gives about a week’s worth of food to each of the families they service, which are allowed to come in once a month. Other than canned food and non-perishable items, he said the pantry also provides frozen meat, vegetables, dairy products and even dog and cat food.
Contrary to the local food pantries – which rely on donations from the community – Drescher said he goes out and purchases the food directly from Feeding America, as well as other places, purchasing items in bulk.
From there, Drescher said items are trucked to the pantries warehouse – currently housed in Delavan thanks to the graciousness of Miniature Precision Components, which has donated warehouse space – where he offloads it from the skids and moves it to the pantry.
“I think you show the most respect for people by giving them good quality food,” he said.
When it comes to clients, Drescher said they pride themselves in their efficiency, getting clients through the interview process and getting food in their hands quickly.
Generosity
Drescher said without the people of Walworth County, he couldn’t have even begun to do this.
“It’s a very unique community and people are very willing to give back,” he said. “I just look at it and say, I’m truly blessed to live in Walworth County.
“There’s so many different fundraisers, and yet they all survive…the everyday person is out there. They may not have a lot, but they’re giving back to help what they believe in. I’m blown away by the generosity of others.”
Drescher said they receive help from numerous sources throughout the county including clubs, organizations and companies, which hold food drives or fundraisers to support the pantry.
Additionally, other than purchasing food from Feeding America, Drescher said the Walmarts in Lake Geneva and Delavan have been huge supporters of the pantry and Drescher picks up food from the locations twice a week.
“Without Walmarts in America, there would be no food pantry program,” he said. “They get a bad wrap, but they are big-time givers to food pantries across America…without Walmart in the mix we wouldn’t be able to do half the things we do.”
Due to its size, Drescher said the pantry technically takes the place of Feeding America at the Walmarts in the county, which is nice and the local Walmarts like since the food stays in the local communities.
“Any canned good that falls of a shelf we get, any tab of a cereal box that comes unglued we get, we get all of their extra produce, all of their meats are never frozen, but when they’re nearing expiration, they flash freeze them and we get them, we get all their breads and bakery,” he said.
In turn, Drescher said based on how much they take in, there’s a network of local food pantries that then come pick up goods from him.
In addition to the pantry, Drescher said he started an organization with Kunes several years ago, Feeding Walworth County. On a quarterly basis, Drescher said they give out close to 60,000 pounds of food to the 23 other pantries in the county based on size.
“It’s been very good and I think the other food pantries have been appreciative of the opportunity,” he said. “I look back at it as I’ve been blessed with the opportunity and I’m just one piece of the puzzle that fits together to supply, to get the food to the people of Walworth County that need it.
“You can’t put it into one word. Human nature at its best is hard to describe.”
How to get involved
For those interested in volunteering, Drescher suggested giving the pantry a call at its new number, (262) 723-4488, after the move.
Monetary donations can be donated to the J.A.D Foundation, the foundation Drescher started to support the food pantry.
