Pantry box aims to help those in the community in times of need | News

Leadership Fond du Lac, a nine-month-long program that Envision Greater Fond du Lac established many years ago and continues to run, has made it easier for Ripon community members to receive help in times of need.

The program brings emerging leaders from different aspects of the community and Fond du Lac County together to find and perform a project. Members of the program’s Team Hope squad held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week Wednesday by Traded Treasures and Community Food Pantry for a community pantry box, which will be available 24/7 and contain hygiene products, other necessities and resources.

An identical community pantry also was opened in North Fond du Lac last week Wednesday by the same group.

Inspired and based on a project started in Fond du Lac called “Hope on the Block,” the community pantries were scaled down a bit due to Ripon and North Fond du Lac being smaller communities.

Ripon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mandy Kimes, who was part of the Leadership Fond du Lac’s Team Hope, noted the idea of the community pantry is “to stand in the gap when resources aren’t available.”

“We’re providing things that aren’t often found in our food pantry and items that people might need but are not really ready to walk into a place in public to get,” she said. “Inside [the box], there’s going to be a resource list of places that they can call if they’re looking for additional help with all different types of health because we know that one of the biggest gaps is that people just don’t know what’s available to them.”

Brad Leonhard, who also was one of the five people of the Leadership Fond du Lac’s Team Hope and is a Ripon College alumnus, noted during the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week that one of the areas that emerged when the group met with nonprofits to talk to them about their mission and values was the gap in the community they were helping fill.

“This is about Fond du Lac County; it’s about getting to every area of the county, not forgetting anybody anywhere,” he said of the leadership program. “And so as a Ripon College alum and having a member of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce [on the team] as well, we thought it was important to reach this corner and make sure that we were helping people in need out here because this is a large community. We wanted to build off the idea of Hope on the Block and build some satellites in other communities around the county and maybe start seeing this progress out further and help people where they are instead of them having to come to one central location.”

Hope on the Block was started about eight months ago in Fond du Lac. Nick Teifke, who spoke last week Wednesday, said his group didn’t really know what to expect when it came up with the idea or how it was going to be used and who was going to use it. Since then, he noted the group has gained a much clearer picture.

“We’ve learned a lot about the specific needs in our community,” he said. “We’ve learned that we have a great support network behind us in our community. And we’ve learned that we’re having a big impact on people.”

Teifke then shared a note that was left in Hope on the Block’s suggestion box with those in attendance.

“It says ‘Hi, I appreciate you guys and gals. Whoever is helping, you fed me a few nights when I would have had nothing else. I am on a better road now; good, basic job at a friendly place.’ And then they even go on to offer to help with our doors that were damaged,” Teifke said. “So we know that we’re not only having an impact, but we’re an active participant in turning people’s lives around and I think that’s a really beautiful thing.”

Traded Treasures & Community Food Pantry Executive Director Amy Pollesch noted that the food pantry is “so excited that Mandy came to us [with the idea for a community pantry] because we’ve been talking about it” but that her husband, Eric, “is a little bit overworked and this idea for him is like four years out.”

“The idea that this just got placed here, he’s thrilled and excited that this came to fruition as it is part of a vision that we had a long time ago to just provide almost like a 24/7 box of hope for people,” she said. “We do have a lot of people in our community that use the food pantry, but we also have some silent people in our community where the food pantry feels a little threatening, and they’re very proud. And so I’m very excited for the opportunity to make this simple and approachable. And then hopefully open the door to the next level, which really is the food pantry for ongoing support.”

Kimes is grateful for Traded Treasures’ willingness to be a partner and help store overstock, as well as the organizations in the Ripon community who are going to get involved in giving and doing donation drives throughout the year to keep the box stocked. She added there’s an Amazon wishlist which people can consult when donating.

“We’re excited to learn about what needs Ripon specifically has,” Kimes said. “We’ve seen these all the time on our social media pages of people just without the basic necessities to get through to the next paycheck. We’re really pumped to see how this is going to help. And this is the first thing that we have with this Leadership Fond du Lac here in Ripon that I’ve heard about in a long time, so we’re just excited about that.”

Drexel Building Supply in Campbellsport donated and delivered all the materials for both the Ripon and North Fond du Lac community pantries to Horace Mann High School in North Fond du Lac, where students of building trades teacher Mike McDowell used a blueprint to build two identical boxes. A member of the Leadership Fond du Lac’s Team Hope, Erick Gerritson, then brought the boxes home, put some final touches on it and added a plaque to honor donors.