What's With the Long Line?

Drive by WAFER on select Saturday mornings during the summer and you'll see a long line of people standing in front of our building, and quite a commotion going on in the parking lot. These are the Channel One Food Bank & WAFER Food Fairs, events in which we distribute carts full of groceries to each participating household. In September, some of the foods included cereal, juice, apple snacks, potatoes, oatmeal, cookies, and pizzas. WAFER and the Hunger Task Force also set out produce and bread.
Here's how the program works:

• In the month prior to the Food Fair, clients pick up a ticket for entrance. The Food Fair is open to any La Crosse County low-income resident, not just WAFER clients. Participants choose between picking up their food at either the WAFER or a West Salem location. 

• Channel One, WAFER's Feeding America connection, trucks in pallets of food from their Rochester MN warehouse, setting the pallets up in the WAFER parking lot. While we may have some advance notice of what will be available, for the most part, we simply wait to see what will be unloaded. The folks at Channel One spend the prior month setting aside at least ten different items for WAFER's Food Fair.

• Two volunteers per pallet (about 30 are needed for the morning)distribute the items; every household receives the same amount of food, usually one or two of each food. Shopping carts are borrowed from Festival Foods because clients typically receive more food than they can easily carry. Volunteers also assist in crowd and traffic control, escort disabled clients negotiate the line, and help with set-up and clean up.

• Outdoor Food Fairs are held May through October. This year, McCloone Metal Graphics is donating indoor space so the Food Fairs can continue year round.

Though the wait in line can be painfully long, especially in hot weather, over 600 families participated in the September Food Fair. We are so happy for this partnership and for the chance to bring more food to more people