With some changes, food pantries and shelters will continue to serve Milwaukee on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving gatherings this year will be different due to the coronavirus pandemic.

That extends to holiday meals and food drives that have long been sponsored by area shelters and food pantries. Here is a look at how some of the groups are handling things this holiday season:

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin 

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, which provides meals to those in need year-round, turned its 23rd annual Stuff the Bus event virtual and are encouraging people to continue to donate online. 

On Tuesday, Feeding America is to host a donation drive with Fox6. 

On Wednesday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., it will partner with 99.1 The Mix, Pick ’n Save and the Milwaukee County Transit System.

The goal is to raise enough to pay for 75,000 meals for the overall holiday season, including Christmas.

Meanwhile, customers and employees of Sendik’s Food Market stores in the area donated 134,009 pounds of food, valued at $126,964, to the group. That will provide about 282,667 meals to families.

Sendik’s also presented the group with a $50,000 contribution, as well as $7,578 from the community. 

Milwaukee Rescue Mission 

The Milwaukee Rescue Mission will serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal Thursday to the men, women and children staying in the shelter. 

“We are pretty much doing what we have done with some changes,” said Milwaukee Rescue Mission President Pat Vanderburgh. 

This year, however, the organization will forgo its usual community meal at its North campus and instead will give out meal boxes and turkeys to families who attend their school or have been part of their Joy House Program. 

Oak Creek Salvation Army 

The Salvation Army in Oak Creek is preparing 105 Thanksgiving meals for distribution on Tuesday. Of those meals, 80 will be designated for senior citizens at Booth Manor and 25 will be designated for bell ringers. 

Hope House 

Hope House, a nonprofit emergency homeless shelter and "rapid rehousing" facility, will not host any events open to the public.

Instead, it will serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal to its 40 in-house residents Thursday. Hope House will also provide meals for the roughly 100 families in their rapid rehousing program, which helps with rental assistance and services.  

The nonprofit is also looking for donations from community members, such as towels and twin-size linens. 

“We’re thankful for the outpouring support of the community,” Development Director Jim Farrell said. “This year it seems like more people want to help. It’s been really tough for the families that are homeless right now."

Hunger Task Force

This year, Hunger Task Force, one of the state's largest food banks, has not been able to distribute as much Thanksgiving food as it normally would to food pantries and other organizations.

Because of the pandemic, the food bank was not able to organize the food drives that would normally bring in the cranberries, stuffing and other Thanksgiving staples.

"It's a different Thanksgiving altogether," said Executive Director Sherrie Tussler.

"We haven't been able to hand out 5-pound bags of potatoes," she said. "We haven't been able to hand out the gravy. ... I haven't seen a bag of stuffing."  

Still, the food bank has distributed more than 4,000 turkeys to seniors and to families through local food pantries, Tussler said.

Capuchin Community Services

Capuchin Community Services, a ministry based in Milwaukee, hosted a food box drive that will benefit senior citizens. 

Over the years, the organization has relied on partnerships with area schools to help fill those boxes, which has been a challenge because many schools have remote learning.

However, ministers have made it easier for people to donate and have given the community the option to buy gift cards online or purchase gifts through registries. 

“Maybe people attending services is down,” Ministries Director Robert Wotypka said. “But thanks to the desire of people to support our ministry, we are able to serve.” 

Jessica Rodriguez is a Report for America corps reporter who focuses on news of value to underserved communities for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to this reporting effort at JSOnline.com/RFA.

Sarah Volpenhein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.