Rhinelander Area Food Pantry

Food pantries generally see a burst of giving around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that giving tends to dry up come spring.

That’s why the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry hosts an annual spring challenge.

The challenge started years ago when a businessman provided a million-dollar matching fund for competing food pantries. 

When that program ended, an anonymous local resident stepped in to make a partial match for any donations to the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry through March and April.

Volunteers with the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry started their Thursday morning unloading pallets of boxes off a Feeding America truck.

It was already snowing constantly as the maneuvered a forklift through the snow-covered parking lot.

More than a thousand 30-pound boxes sat in stacks in the parking lot while people waiting in cars lining the streets around the pantry.

“Cars were lined up quarter to 7:00,” said operations assistant Courtney Smith.

This is the first Feeding America truck to arrive at the pantry in 2021.

The Rhinelander Area Food Pantry is open and they have food, but they need volunteers and how you pick up the food has changed.

Pantry spokesperson Guy Hansen says the pantry remains open at regular distribution times, Mondays from 3-6pm, Wednesdays 4-7pm and Saturdays 10:30am-1pm.

Hansen says there was a false rumor that you couldn't go to the Food Pantry without a permit, which is not true.

The Rhinelander Area Food Pantry is again asking for the public to respond as it has in past years to its Spring Challenge.

Pantry spokesperson Bill Vancos says the challenge began several years ago from the Feinstein Foundation, which offered $1 million to food pantries to compete for matching money.

Vancos says the Feinstein challenge ended so they looked locally...

Customers at the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry are seeing healthier food options on the pantry’s shelves.

Together with the UW-Extension-Oneida County office, the RAFP is promoting a healthier diet and improved nutrition with the “Food Drive 5” program which encourages choosing food that is higher in protein, fruit, colorful vegetables, soups and whole grains.

A key fundraiser for the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry is Saturday at Holiday Acres Resort near Rhinelander.

The third annual Garden Fresh Salad Bowl serves food from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Food Pantry Executive Director Guy Hansen explains....

"....there are 13 different restaurants around town that donate their signature salad which we serve out there along with rolls from the Nicolet College Culinary Arts, along with Golden Harvest(store) and desserts and beverage...."

There's a fundraiser this weekend that benefits two non-profits based in Rhinelander that often help each other.

The annual Harvest Hoedown is Saturday from noon until 6 p.m. at Woodpecker Bar & Grill west of Rhinelander on county highway "K".

The harvest-themed event benefits the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry and NATH/Frederick Place homeless shelter. There will be a pig roast, live music, line dancing,horse-drawn wagon rides, country store, pumpkin patches, face painting, and more, all geared toward a family event.

Good food for a good cause.

The Rhinelander Area Food Pantry is hosting its second annual Garden Fresh Salad Bowl fundraiser Saturday at Holiday Acres Resort near Rhinelander.

Food Pantry Director Guy Hansen says they have a lot of support...

"...we have 11 different restaurants that have donated salads. People have their choice of any of those or all of those along with a roll and beverage. Tickets are $15 and they have about about a 50-50 chance of winning a door prize...."

Donations are welcome at area food pantries as the holiday season is upon us.

Rhinelander Area Food Pantry Executive Director Guy Hansen says leading up to the holidays people have been generous. He says they will always accept donations of food, and people have been giving items that often aren't available like pie filling.

But, he says, there's one way that provides more purchasing power to feed those less fortunate...