INTERCHANGE INC
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Mission Statement
Improve the health and well-being of our guests through nutritious food and compassion.
About This Cause
The Interchange Food Pantry is a city-wide food pantry that responds to the critical need to improve the health of Milwaukee’s disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Recognizing that healthy food is a human right, we provide human dignity and justice to those without access to healthy foods. The Interchange Food Pantry's (IFP) primary focus is the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Project (FFVP). This project, which provides high-quality fruits and vegetables to the socioeconomically disadvantaged, is of utmost importance. We believe that the food middle-class Americans serve to their families to live a healthy life should be the same food we provide our pantry guests. The majority of IFP’s guests are Black (68%) and live in Milwaukee's food deserts (82%), where access to healthy foods is limited due to the high cost of produce, poor quality, and lack of availability. The Interchange Food Pantry's unique commitment to serving guests fresh fruits and vegetables sets it apart from other food pantries. This unwavering commitment ensures our guests have reliable access to healthy, fresh produce all year round. The FFVP is instrumental in providing a minimum of six servings of culturally appropriate, fresh fruits and vegetables per guest, with a maximum of 30 servings of fresh fruits for five or more guests in a household. The items provided to our guests, including apples, bananas, oranges, pears, corn, greens, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, fulfill basic nutritional needs and offer significant health benefits. Abundant research shows that fruit and vegetable consumption helps protect against obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain forms of cancer, depression, and other chronic diseases that are prevalent in the community we serve. Guests are allowed one visit per month. In addition to the fresh fruits and vegetables, guests receive protein items such as chicken, beef, turkey, tuna, milk, cheese, legumes, and peanut butter, and carbohydrates such as bread, cereal, rice, whole grains, and pasta. The need to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to people living in Milwaukee’s food desert has been identified repeatedly through numerous studies by the USDA, the State of Wisconsin, and the City of Milwaukee Fresh Food and Access Report. The studies consistently state that there are 13 food deserts in Milwaukee. Most of Milwaukee is considered to have low access to food — meaning a majority of residents live more than a 10-minute walk away from a store where fresh food is available. Geographically, we serve the entire city of Milwaukee. There is no wrong zip code. The IFP is one of only a handful of city-wide food pantries where everyone is welcomed no matter where they live. Our open-door policy is a priority because food distribution in Milwaukee is not equitable. Neighborhoods experiencing the highest concentration of food insecurity and poverty also receive the least amount of food. People of color are disproportionately impacted. IFP has made further progress in addressing these inequities by opening a satellite food pantry at St. Mark AME, located in Milwaukee's most underserved and economically depressed zip code (53206). Today, our racial/ethnic background is representative of the communities where the need is greatest, and our commitment to equity is unwavering. In summary, the Interchange Food Pantry is a community-serving nonprofit with one program: the Healthy Food Initiative. The three projects—the Protein Plus Project, the Thanksgiving Dinner Giveaway, and our cornerstone project, the Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Project—enable IFP to remain faithful to its mission of nourishing health and well-being with compassion.