Partner of the Month: Hmong American Friendship Association | April 2024

Hunger Task Force isn’t just Milwaukee Free & Local food bank – we’re a community. We believe in the power of collaboration, and that’s why we’re thrilled to recognize our amazing supporters through “Partner of the Month,” a platform to celebrate the incredible local organizations, businesses and companies who join us in the fight against hunger. They donate food, volunteer their time, raise awareness and provide financial support – strengthening our work in preventing hunger and malnutrition by providing food to people in need today and by promoting social policies to achieve a hunger-free community tomorrow.

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Hmong American Friendship Association

At Hunger Task Force, we recognize that providing culturally relevant food at a pantry brings comfort to clients and helps break the stigma of food insecurity. We are excited to recognize the Hmong American Friendship Association Inc. (HAFA) as our Partner of the Month for April 2024!

Hunger Task Force is committed to providing our partners with healthy foods clients will crave. To ensure shelves are stocked with the right items, HAFA opened its doors to our Cultural Foods Coordinator to survey pantry goers to learn their food preferences. The survey results are used to select the culturally relevant foods to provide to the pantry – and all pantries in our network.

“We are appreciative of the food we receive from Hunger Task Force to serve our needy community,” said Lo Neng Kiatoukaysy, executive director of HAFA. “The staff is incredibly helpful in making our program so successful and the organization is a role model for us and other local nonprofits.”

In 2023, HAFA distributed more than 134,000 pounds of healthy, fresh produce. Of which:

• 39,605 pounds were fresh produce from the Hunger Task Force Farm
• 81,360 pounds were fresh TEFAP food, distributed by Hunger Task Force, including, but not limited to, fresh milk, oranges, grapes, tangerines, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, pears, plums, peaches and nectarines

So far this year, HAFA has served more than 1,961 individuals at its client choice food pantry at which shoppers can select the items they wish to eat from the pantry shelves. This operation model has preserved dignity by letting clients decide what they want to eat and improved service quality and can reduce food waste.

A HAFA client says it best, “a warm meal made from the food provided by HAFA gives us hope.”

We commend the exceptional work HAFA is doing to improve the quality of life for Asian families in the Greater Milwaukee area through its Southeast Asian Food Pantry and other programs and we are proud to partner with the organization to provide emergency food with dignity.

Meet our Partners of the Month!

Click below to discover real people, schools, organizations and businesses making a difference in the fight against hunger – new partners added each month! Keep checking back to meet more incredible partners making a difference.