Nourish First and Thrive: Capital Campaign to End Hunger

The 27 million pounds of food that Second Harvest provides to food pantries, school markets, and meal sites each year is not enough.

Join Nourish First and Thrive, an ambitious and much-needed capital campaign to increase food security for hundreds of thousands of our neighbors right here in the heart of Wisconsin.

146,000 of our neighbors, including 40,000 children, are facing food insecurity

—meaning they don’t have enough to eat and are uncertain of where their next meal will come from.

Food insecurity rates are increasing, but our ability to address them is not.

There are millions more pounds of nutritious food available to be donated to Second Harvest.

But we are out of space to accept, sort, and distribute more family-ready portions of food. The need for food support is on the rise and we need a modern distribution center that is ready to meet the growing needs of our community.

During Fiscal Year 2024, we provided food support to 34% more households than the previous year.

Two-thirds of our 300 partners rely on Second Harvest for more than half of their food supply.

Partners like the Islamic Center of Madison look to Second Harvest as a pivotal partner in community support.

“Without Second Harvest, we would not be able to provide food for people. We don’t have the means ourselves to do that. It makes a big impact on people’s lives.”

Ibrahim Saeed
President of Islamic Center of Madison

More from our partners

Second Harvest is honored to work with community builders and business leaders who are among the early supporters of Nourish First and Thrive.

“It is unconscionable that in a wealthy country like ours, people go to bed hungry. We have the means to end hunger, and supporting Second Harvest’s capital campaign to build a new facility is the way we can get there together.”

Rick Searer
Retired President of Kraft Foods and Oscar Mayer Foods, philanthropist, Second Harvest board member

A new, modern food bank is needed now more than ever.

Second Harvest is ready to build a new facility where we can double the amount of food that we collect, process, and distribute to partner agencies in our 16-county region.