Second Harvest Foodbank began working with local hunger-relief agencies in 1986. Since our doors opened we have helped provide nearly 286 million meals to those facing hunger. Here’s how we’ve grown over the years:
1980’s
- 1986 Doors of Southern Wisconsin Regional Foodbank, Inc. opened March 17
- 1986 75 member agencies
- 1986 Our first refrigerated truck is donated by Oscar Mayer
- 1988 We become a United Way participating agency
1990’s
- 1994 Our name changed to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
- 1995 1.5 million pounds of food is distributed to over 150 member agencies
- 1996 Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin begins operations at the new warehouse at our current location, 2802 Dairy Drive in Madison
- 1996 In partnership with NBC anchor Mike McKinney, the first WMTV Share Your Holidays campaign takes place
- 1999 Second Harvest launches our first Kid’s Cafe
2000’s
- 2004 Our first Mobile Pantry is held at Lincoln School in Madison
- 2005 The BackPack Program is started in the Evansville School District in partnership with the Community Action Aware program
- 2007 Warehouse addition completed
- 2009 FoodShare Outreach launches
2010’s
- 2012 Field to Foodbank launches
- 2014 HungerCare & School Market Program launches
- 2016 Diabetes wellness program launches
- 2017 Second expansion of Distribution Center located at 2802 Dairy Drive in Madison
2020’s
- 2020 The Food 4 Thought Initiative and other MMSD School Markets merge with Second Harvest
- 2020 COVID pandemic response includes launch of Farm to Foodbank Initiative with Dane County support
- 2025 Surpassed 300 million pounds of food distributed since opening our doors in 1986
- 2025 An innovative digital wallet program called Harvest Wallet is piloted to support families with school-age children