WAFER Board President, Taylor Haley, to compete in Ironman

to raise funds for Nutrition Education and Tools Project

Good nutrition is important for all of us. We’ve heard about

the studies that indicate children perform better in school

when they eat healthy. As adults we have more energy and

are productive when we eat well and exercise.

Athletes in training know the importance of eating well.

Taylor is an athlete in training for yet another Ironman

competition May 16th in Houston, Texas. These events push

athletes to their limit. Ironman starts with a 2.4-mile swim

followed by a 112-mile bike ride

and a 26.2-mile run, all of which

must be completed in 17 hours.

Taylor is calling attention to WAFER, specifically the

Nutrition Education and Tools program, and you’re invited to

help. Taylor is seeking to raise $80,000 through lead donors

and a matching funds campaign between now and May 16th.

Matching gift donors will be announced through WAFER’s

Facebook page, webpage, and through an e-newsletter. Your

gift could be more than tripled as lead donors join this unique

fundraising campaign.

A special page (IRONMAN) has

been set up on our website

waferlacrosse.org for you to learn about Taylor, his training

program for the Ironman competition, and a link to learn more

about NET project. You can check back often to get updates

on his progress in training. Your financial gift will help us

provide more outreach to at risk populations who need

nutrition education and tools to prepare food.

Please consider giving a gift today!!!!

Our M iss ion: “Responding to God’s love , WAFER provides food and works to e l im inate hunger”

Board of Directors Taylor Haley, President

Mike Voss, Vice-President

Lee Bluske, Treasurer

Don Smith, Secretary

Brad Clarkin

Brad Dinsmoor

Sally Friend

Dennis Herricks

Jerry Saterbak

Judy Siefert

Dorothy Stroschein

Administrative Staff Erin Waldhart

Executive Director

Susan Clements

Operations Manager

From the Director

“Souper” Bowl

Gifts In-Kind

2014 in review

Donors

Why to follow us on

Facebook.

Volunteer Spotlight

Recent events

In this Issue:

2 3 5 4

Spring 2015

Page 2

From the Director

Springtime is upon us and I can’t help but think

about how sweet the newness of spring is after a

long, cold winter. The word “newness” also

brings my focus to the newness that change

brings, the newness of growth, and also to what

is not new; the ever-present food needs in our

local communities. Food insecurity is not

“new”, though the face of hunger has changed

over the years.

The “War on Hunger" began in 1964 during the

Johnson Administration. Much of the data that

is available indicates a significant impact within

the first year, but has largely remained

unchanged in the last 45 years. Feeding

America reports similar findings though

indicating that the “face of hunger” has change

to one that is a “hard working and is full of

hope”. Those “faces” are the working class,

students, military, seniors, and others who are

forced to deal with underemployment, stagnant

wages, and the rising cost of living. Those who

are food insecure may be your neighbors, rela-

tives, friends and people you pass on the street.

You may not know they are struggling, but the

fact that 46.5 million people were living in pov-

erty last year means there is a pretty good chance

you know someone dealing with food insecurity.

Each day WAFER’s staff is humbled to be able

to serve families and individuals in such a

meaningful way. WAFER strives to provide

hope and comfort for the people that rely on us

for food. We work to make sure nobody goes

without food at mealtime. Each day our hearts

break just a little bit more when we realize that

there are other challenges we can't address to

help lift our clients out of their current situation

and make life better. These things are nothing

“new”.

In service,

Erin Waldhart,

Executive Director

To receive WAFER e-mail updates simply contact us with

your email address or sign up electronically on our website

(bottom right corner): www.waferlacrosse.org

You can make electronic donations on our website through

PayPal or through these websites (processing fees vary):

www1.networkforgood.org

www.justgive.org

For the last 14 or 15 years longtime volunteer, Lou Wuensch,

has coordinated a “Souper Bowl Challenge” at his church.

English Lutheran members bring soup in to cast their vote for

who they think the winner of the Super Bowl will be. This

year, Lou once again delivered all the soup. When he got to

WAFER he said, “I have a lot of chicken noodle soup today!”

I think it is pretty clear who Lou thought the winner would be.

Thanks Lou!

Rotary Lights Celebrates 20 Years This past year was the 20th year Rotary Lights were displayed

in Riverside Park. This event has grown over the years from

250,000 to 3.5+ million lights and 13,010 to ~230,000 food

items collected. Food items are distributed between area food

pantries to help feed the 1000’s of hungry people in our local

communities. Thank you to the organizers, volunteers, and

donors who helped make this event a success. This year

WAFER received 24,157 pounds of food!

Page 3

Thank you for your Gifts In Kind:

Ann Brice

-for maintaining and updating the database

Olympic Builders General Contractors, Inc

-for donating labor and supplies to repair the

building after the flood in June 2014

Events and Milestones of 2014

1. April - Western Technical College students produced first visit/informational video and is available on the

WAFER website.

2. May - Nutrition Education and Tools (NET) Project announced (see website for full proposal). A Venture Grant

from the United Way provided funds to offer 6 sessions on topics such as gardening/produce to kitchen basics.

3. Early June - Pallet racking added in upper warehouse allows vertical storage & easier access to food product.

4. End of June - Heavy rain and severe storms which resulted in several inches of water in our building. Some

food in storage had to be discarded. Walls and flooring were ruined. Service was limited for a short time and over

$12,808 was spent to repair the damage.

5. November and December - The first programs for NET were held in the WAFER building. These programs

were well attended and received overwhelmingly positive responses from participants.

WAFER 2014 Statistics

Food packages distributed, 19,548

Number of people fed for 4-5 days, 49,461

New families served, 741

Pounds of food distributed, 1,592,704

Pounds of food given to support local anti-hunger agencies/programs, 54,960

Hours of service given by volunteers, 10,063

2015 Projections

Providing food in a compassionate way to our clients will continue to be our main focus in the months to come.

Teaching people who are food insecure how to prepare nutritious food to improve their quality of life is just as

important. Our NET project will do just that.

The Senior Share Program has been in operation for about 5 years. This spring we will be conducting a program

evaluation to determine how well we are meeting needs and the satisfaction of participants.

The Franke Foundation hosted the 4th annual

Care & Share Expo at the Main Library. The

foundation offered a matching funds

incentive, up to $500, for all non-profits

during this event. Thank you to those who

gave during this event. Your gifts provided

us with the $500 match!

Aquinas Middle School students held their annual “Stuff the Bus”

school wide food drive for WAFER. The students collected

3200 pounds of food.

Page 4

Thank you to the following organizations for

donating food in November and December.

A-1 Fire Protection

Ace Hardware

Advance Spinal Care

Agropur Ingredients

Aldi

Aquinas High School

Aquinas Middle School Aramark

Authenticom

Best Buy

Catholic Order of Foresters

Chamber of Commerce Leadership Group

Chapter O

City of La Crosse

Community Care & Share Pantry

Congregation Sons of Abraham

Craig's Meats

Crescent Printing Co. Dairyland Power

English Lutheran Church First Baptist Church

First Congregational Church First Presbyterian Church

Gerrard-Hoeschler Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Goodwill Industries Gordy's Market Gundersen Health System -Onalaska

Hardware Hank Harmony Valley Farms

Health Tradition Health Plan Hillside Animal Hospital

Hillview Health Care Holy Trinity Catholic Church

HSR Associates Inc. Kohl's Department Store La Crosse Area Realtors Association

La Crosse Chamber Chorale La Crosse County Human Services

La Crosse Public Library

Marine Credit Union

Mayo Health System

Mindoro Elementary School

North Presbyterian Church

Operating Engineers Local 139

Organic Valley

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

PEO Sisterhood Chapter CR

People's Food Cooperative, Inc.

Potato King

Quillin's IGA Island

River Trails Cycle

Rivers Family Therapy

Rotary Lights

SEH Inc.

S&S Cycle St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church

St. John's UCC Church

St. Joseph Cathedral

Summit Elementary School

Trane Family Foundation

Trust Point Inc.

UW-La Crosse

UW-La Crosse Volunteering Within

Valley View Mall

Valley View Rotary

Viterbo University

Warehouse Alliance, Inc.

Wesley United Methodist Church

Women's Fund of Greater La Crosse

Western Technical College

Thank you to our faithful

weekly donors!

Aldi

Great Harvest Bread Co.

Linda’s Bakery

Kwik Trip

Panera Bread

Quillin’s IGA

Sam’s Club

Starbuck’s

Target

Walmart

Westby Creamery

When you visit these

businesses please thank them for

supporting WAFER!

Why should you follow WAFER on

Facebook?

Sometimes we need extra volunteers at the

last minute and maybe you would be

available if you see our plea.

We share stories about volunteers and staff

to put a name and face on WAFER.

Learn about upcoming events promoting

WAFER and opportunities to get involved.

The statistics are staggering. We share

numbers and information related to hunger

in our area and around the country to

educate our followers.

WAFER makes a difference. Hundreds of

people walk thru our doors every month

and there is a story behind of each of those

faces. We want you to hear those stories

and how we helped.

2014 Annual Report

This report highlights our successes,

challenges, growth and the impact we

have on the community we serve.

The full report is available at

waferlacrosse.org. Click on the

"resources" tab.

Search for

“WAFER Food

Pantry”

Volunteer Spotlight

In each newsletter, five volunteers are honored based on the highest number of hours given. Volunteers may

work once or week or just once a month but their impact reaches far beyond the walls of WAFER. “Thank you” is not quite enough , but our “thank you” is heartfelt. The following volunteers are honored for

their service hours throughout 2014:

Jackie Holmes (340 hours)

Sue King (206 hours)

Angie Garavalia (179 hours)

Don NeCollins (178 hours)

Kathy Thom (167 hours)

Page 5

Businesses, organizations, individuals, and civic groups continually bless WAFER and those served by

organizing food drives, fundraising events and volunteering . Here is a sampling of some recent events.

I&S Group and 201 Main St Businesses

created a Christmas display with food

instead of buying decorations or a tree.

After Christmas the food, weighing 835

pounds, was donated to WAFER. Last

year I&S Group built a Christmas tree

weighing 540 pounds. This an example

of how a creative idea like a "food

fireplace" can raise awareness and

increase donations.

Little Ellie has a

great big heart!

This newly turned

5-year old collected

food and money for

WAFER instead of

asking for birthday

presents. Wow!

What an example!

The Bangor-Burns Fire Department Family Auxiliary

provided a large selection of children’s hats and gloves/

mittens on more than one occasion this winter. After a

plea for winter gear was put out to the public, this Aux-

iliary group purchased a large assortment of children’s

winter glove and hat sets. After we ran out, they did it

again! Many families and individuals we serve don't

own a winter hat or gloves. Some don't own a decent

winter coat.

NONPROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

LA CROSSE, WI

PERMIT NO. 103

403 Causeway Blvd

La Crosse, WI 54603

608-782-6003

waferlacrosse.org

WAFER is a United Way agency