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Wisconsin puts ARPA dollars into food security

Wisconsin’s Governor is putting additional COVID relief money into food security programs.  Tony Evers announced the investment of 30 million dollars from the American Rescue Act into the state’s two largest hunger relief organizations, Hunger Task Force and Feeding Wisconsin.  Evers had previously designated 25 million dollars in federal assistance dollars to the same groups in 2020.

Evers says the funds will both feed Wisconsin’s food-insecure families and help Wisconsin food producers find markets for their products.  Ag Secretary Randy Romanski says dollars will be used to purchase Wisconsin products wherever possible.

Sherrie Tussler with the Hunger Task Force says they used the earlier funding to strategically purchase foods from family farms and small food producers in Wisconsin to assure their solvency during difficult supply chain issues.  Stephanie Jung Dorfman with Feeding Wisconsin says in 2020, this initiative supported increased infrastructure capacity and the purchase of over 6.2 million additional pounds of food.