Senior Stockbox

Discover how community support through programs like Stockbox DoorDash and FoodShare empowers seniors like Zina and Andrew Alexander. Their story reveals the vital role these programs play in their lives.

In February 2023, Wisconsin families and seniors faced a reduction in their FoodShare benefits due to the end of the federal program providing additional assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a year later, the end of these benefits meant a significant loss in purchasing power for many Wisconsinites, including 85-year-old Greendale resident Judith Juszczyski.

Monthly Stockboxes from Hunger Task Force fill a crucial gap in nutrition for local seniors. Nearly 11,000 people in the Milwaukee area receive a monthly Stockbox. Those who don’t get the boxes from a DoorDash driver pick them up at senior dining sites or at subsidized senior living facilities.

The term “no one should go to bed hungry” is a statement that the Hunger Task Force and The Neighbors’ Place have taken seriously. The two organizations began their ‘Stockbox’ program as a way to ensure that low-income seniors receive healthy food every month.

In 2004, Rick Lewandowski walked through the doors of Hunger Task Force eager to make a difference in his hometown by ensuring hungry seniors received Stockboxes – a box of supplementary food to low-income seniors – every month. Little did he know, nearly 20 years later, he’d still be working every day to improve the lives of Milwaukee’s vulnerable seniors as the organization’s first Senior Services Director.

The snow didn’t stop Hunger Task Force from helping out local seniors this winter. Every month, the Hunger Task Force gives out Stockboxes to provide extra help to those 60 and older.

Hunger Task Force provides nearly 7,000 seniors, from all backgrounds, with a Stockbox each month in Milwaukee County. Many of those seniors face chronic hunger and food insecurity.

Since July 2021, Hunger Task Force has partnered with DoorDash and United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County to provide nutritious food to seniors living in Milwaukee and Waukesha County through the Stockbox DoorDash program. The Stockbox is a free, monthly box of food for income-eligible seniors age 60+.

Hunger Task Force recently began partnering with Trevor Roark, Owner and Piot of Curbwise LLC – a bicycle-powered delivery service – to “roll out” the new Stevens Point delivery area for the Senior Stockbox Program. Now, Roark will be pedaling on each month through all kinds of weather, providing seniors with the most important necessity – healthy food from Hunger Task Force.

For Elizabeth Blake, getting to the grocery store is becoming a challenge. Relying on a cane for mobility, Blake notes her monthly shopping trip has become a significant hardship, “I get to the grocery store about once a month because getting around is so hard for me.”