Just inside the front doors of the Northwoods Children’s Museum in Eagle River you’ll find shelves of food, bins and tables filled with hygiene products, and a small fridge with perishable food.
The items are available 24/7 and for free. There’s no paperwork to fill out and no questions asked.
The hygiene pantry is a passion project for the staff. The food pantry came through a partnership with Feed Our Rural Kids or FORK.
Museum Executive Director Danielle Larson calls it a natural partnership.
“I think it's a natural fit because we all see that kids need play for learning, and kids need to be fed so that they can learn,” said Larson.
Studies have shown that children that go to school hunger have a harder time concentrating and learning in class.
The pantry is also important to Larson personally.
“I've been there, I have been on state food health. I have received WIC. I have been on all of the assistance when I was a single mom, when I was very young. I have been there, and I have had to jump through those hoops that you have to go through to get help,” said Larson. “It was very important to me that we make this as accessible as possible to anybody, and that we're not going to turn anybody away for any reason.”
The pantry recently received a donation of a small fridge to offer some perishable food.
FORK Board member and pantry committee chair Jean Arndt says it was donated by someone who had experienced childhood hunger.
“[They] knew how important it was, and noticed that we didn't have refrigerated items and it was important to that person to donate a refrigerator,” said Arndt.
The FORK Pantry is one of 12 located within the Northland Pines, Three Lakes, and Phelps School districts and the only 24/7 one.
Arndt says they’re an essential part of FORK’s mission to provide nutritional support to children from food insecure homes across those districts.
“About 50% of our students at local schools are on the free and reduced lunch eligibility list, and there's many of them that are much lower on the financial scale than even that registers,” said Arndt. “It's just really tough right now. Obviously, costs are increasing constantly. We've all been to the grocery store. We all know that those bills just continue to rise.”
Arndt knows that some people a hard time going to a food pantry out of concern of being seen by someone they know. The one in the children’s museum can be access at any time and is in an are that doesn’t get a lot of traffic.
Though Arndt hopes that concern doesn’t stop people from getting the help they need. FORK offers a helpline to connect people with local resources.
“Moved here seven years ago, and I have found the Northwoods to be extremely friendly and supportive of their neighbors,” said Arndt. “We get donations in all the time from people, and they want their friends and neighbors who have kids to come in and have things taken care of.”
The FORK Pantries, including the one at the Northwoods Children’s Museum, operate on a “take what you need, give what you can” model.
They all have donation bins for unexpired, nonperishable foods. The museum one can take perishable foods.
They also accept monetary donations. You can learn more information on FORK’s website.
