MILWAUKEE – They gathered around the table, their knives falling against cutting boards.
It became a symphony of clicks and clacks, like rain on pavement – this is what volunteerism for the Veggie Chop Shop sounds like, the prepping of food for those in need.
“We get most of our food from farmers markets, and the farmers themselves donate from the goodness of their heart to Tikun Ha-Ir,” said Sami Stein Avner, the local nonprofit’s executive director, as buckets in the basement of All People’s Church, 260 North 2nd St., filled with diced green and red peppers. Though Tikun Ha-Ir gives some of the donated food to the Jewish Community Food Pantry, 2900 W. Center St., for distribution directly to families, much of it is chopped, prepared and cooked at Tikkun Ha-Ir’s Veggie Chop Shop. Pans of that prepared food is sent to places like shelters and preschools that serve low-income families.
Tikkun Ha-Ir’s Veggie Chop Shop is a community meal program that runs annually, July through October. The program has staff and volunteers acquiring food from donors, producing meals, and delivering them to organizations around Milwaukee that support low-income families and individuals.
A Veggie Chop Shop event, typically held Mondays and Tuesdays after donations are “gleaned” from the weekend of farmer’s markets, typically sees around 4-6 community volunteers. Also, groups of inmates from the Milwaukee Women’s Correctional Center have visited the church basement to help. Inmates are often transitioning to community life and law enforcement is present, Avner said.
“This volunteer opportunity combines my love of gardening and fresh food, and giving back to the community, so I like the combination,” said volunteer Barbara Glazer, who was chopping peppers at a Veggie Chop Shop event on Sept. 9. She likes that’s it’s physical labor; it feels productive. Glazer is active in the Jewish community and learned about the volunteer opportunity while on a Tikkun Ha-Ir Food Justice Walk.
Tikkun Ha-Ir does other food-related work, too. For example, it works on a large Christmas Eve meal at the Cathedral Center, which is a women and family shelter. It works on the annual Passover food drive in conjunction with the larger community. And in addition to donations of food from farmer’s markets, the nonprofit sends staff and volunteers to participating farms to pick and gather food.
“They let us go out into the field and bring new, big lawn bags,” Avner said, for items like squash, onions, tomatoes and green beans. “They are most of my body size. When I open them, can I put my whole body in it. We fill up about 12.”
Tikkun Ha-Ir has been working to meet increased demand. “If more people come to your pantry, you need more items,” said the nonprofit’s Brandice Kirchner, food justice director.
Avner said Tikkun Ha-Ir seeks to build a more just community by uniting Jews of all backgrounds to take action. She quoted a phrase from the Jewish tradition: “Let all who are hungry come and eat.” Milwaukee faces challenges, she said, “where there’s surplus and where there’s deficit, and so we take it upon ourselves to do the work of bringing the surplus into where there is a deficit.”
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Volunteers needed
There are different kinds of volunteer opportunities available on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, with varying levels of time commitment and activity (usually a 2-hour shift). Visit: Thi-milwaukee.org/thi-veggie-chop-shop
Everyone is welcome, but if you’re able to make a weekly commitment to do physical work and get your hands dirty, for the acquisition of food, Tikkun Ha-Ir could use your help in particular.
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