Finding new ways to help neighbors in need

A few years ago, Ann Szalkowski started hearing about the many different ways people in the greater Mount Horeb area were working to feed, clothe and otherwise assist people in need.

The work being done was inspiring, but she describes the efforts at the time as “disparate.”

“I became part of a Mount Horeb food drive, saw little food pantries pop up and thought if all these efforts could be combined into a cohesive effort, we may be able to provide more as a group than as individuals,” Szalkowski explains. “I had been volunteering in Madison with a food recovery organization and had contact with  people who were involved with the food banks there. It made me wonder how we could get Mount Horeb involved with these organizations.”

Szalkowski soon discovered she was not alone. She, along with a growing coalition that included people from all walks of life, started getting together and working on an idea that grew out of the existing Clothes Closet and would eventually become Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), a new, non-profit organization that aims to reach people in ways they haven’t been reached before by local charities. NHN is working to centralize and streamline a diverse assortment of endeavors in the community, and its work has been accelerated due to the COVID-19 crisis. 

“We started to look closely into the needs of our community and gathered some data,” Szalkowski says. The most compelling information, she said, came from the United Way’s Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) report. It showed, among other things, that it is not merely the homeless or unemployed who are in need of help.”

Dane County is home to more than half a million people and 217,506 households. The median income here is $70,796, versus $56,811 statewide. Yet 10 percent of households in Dane County live in poverty. And 21 percent qualify as ALICE. These families live above the Federal Poverty Level but make less than enough to cover the basic cost of living. 

“I was most interested in the food aspect of our venture, and started to look into partnerships with the food banks in Madison as well as the government programs for food,” says Szalkowski. 

When NHN formed last year, Szalkowski was one of its food coordinators. They already knew there were people who needed help, but the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted government agencies to take measures that effectively shut down the global economy and cost millions of people their livelihoods, accentuated and added to the need that was already there. 

Janna Hansen is a longtime Community Clothes Closet board member. The clothes closet initially formed a committee to look into needs in the community, and that led to the formation of NHN. Hansen is now board president for Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

“The Community Needs Exploratory Committee was exploring the need in our community, and what it found was that people continue to struggle with food insecurity and other needs,” said Hansen. 

Hansen has what she describes as “a passion for outreach.” She started volunteering at the Community Clothes Closet in 2005. In 2012 she became a board member and was later named president. 

“We want to be a resource for people in the community,” says Adam Mertz, an NHN board member and its communications director. “People come to us with ideas, and that’s actually been one of the most encouraging things about this; that the need is there, but also the enthusiasm to help is there too.” 

The Clothes Closet relies heavily on support from 15 local churches. Those religious institutions have endorsed and aided in the formation of Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and Mertz says members “are counting on their support.”

“I feel like everyone has been waiting for an opportunity like this,” he says. 

NHN began advertising its new mobile food pantry on March 15. Five days later, it was already serving 86 people, including seniors and children. By May 22, NHN had amassed a client base of 146 families totaling 440 people, some of whom receive help each week, some who get it every other week, and some who are aided on a monthly basis. There are 151 children among those currently being helped in Mount Horeb, Blue Mounds, Barneveld and surrounding townships. 

“We are adding, on average, two to five families a week to our customer base,” Hansen says.    

Since March 20, they have distributed roughly 28,000 pounds of shelf-stable goods, produce, and dairy from Second Harvest Food Bank and Community Action Coalition, along with donations from numerous local businesses. They also offered $4,200 in gift cards that allow families to purchase items at Miller & Sons Supermarket. 

“We have continued to work closely with school social workers to meet special requests for children, and we continue to provide clothing through individual shopping appointment at the Community Closet,” says Hansen. 

“When COVID-19 restrictions were put in place, NHN knew we had to act to help get food to anyone in our area that was experiencing food insecurity,” recalls Szalkowski. “We already had signed an agreement to partner with Second Harvest Food Bank to provide the food for the school [district’s] backpack program. Their partnership led us to have access to food for anyone in our community that is experiencing food insecurity. We are in our [12th] week of providing pre-boxed dry food, produce, cooler items, meat and milk to anyone from our area feeling a need for food.”

Each week there are anywhere from 70 to 90 families receiving food, which translates to 200 to 250 people per week.

‘A One-Stop

 Resource Hub’

In addition, Neighbors Helping Neighbors is establishing a physical hub at 102 E. Lincoln Street in Mount Horeb. There, in a space next to the existing Clothing Closet, they plan to supply food, clothing and personal items, as well as access to other services for people in need. 

“The outpouring of support from our community, community organizations and our partners has been overwhelming,” comments Szalkowski. “The generosity of our donors and the gratitude of our recipients is heartwarming. It is my hope, that if we all work together, we can fill the gaps.”

“The key is, it’s a one-stop resource hub,” explains Mertz. “That’s what we found was most effective in other communities.” 

By bringing various services together and increasing communication and access, they hope to provide “a better understanding for a lot of the charities that are trying to help people.”

“You want to help people effectively,” Mertz adds, “and we can do that better if we’re all rowing in the same direction.”

NHN had planned to begin operating in earnest sometime this summer, but the pandemic changed that. The organization began offering its mobile food pantry and taking “ad hoc” requests for a variety of help several months earlier than initially planned. 

“Sometimes it takes an event to spur things into motion,” Mertz reflects. 

One thing COVID-19 did, according to Mertz, was to illustrate a variety of needs that were previously invisible, sometimes even to those who needed help. 

“There’s a lot of hidden need,” Mertz says. “Mount Horeb might not have the same poverty as some other places, but there are a lot of people right on the edge. I think [COVID-19] probably surprised a lot of people who thought they were in really good shape.”

It was those hidden needs that were the primary focus of the investigation launched by the Community Needs Exploratory Committee. What they found was that an estimated 35 percent of residents in Mount Horeb are “working poor” according to the United Way’s definition.

In 2019, the Clothes Closet provided free clothing, bedding and footwear to more than 2,000 people. Volunteers recorded nearly 900 hours to make that happen. 

Volunteers Are The 

Foundation of Clothes 

Closet and NHN

Amy Gordon began working as the Mount Horeb Clothes Closet coordinator in 2015. Her responsibilities include coordinating with church liaisons who perform a critical role ensuring the Clothes Closet is staffed during its open hours. She also takes care of sorting and cleaning during the closet’s designated months.  

“We also have a great team of section leaders that help us monthly by ensuring their designated ‘sections’ of the Clothes Closet are managed, enabling us to keep our facility top notch,” Gordon says. “I lead events such as our Love Offering, which is held each February and is such a critical event and with the generous donations, it allows us to provide new socks and underwear to those in need. I also lead our Spring Garage Sale event, which is held during the Mt. Horeb garage sales..”

They also partner with St. Vincent De Paul, providing a trailer for those wanting to donate their leftover garage sale items.  Additional events that are part of Gordon’s role are the School Supply Handout that happens each fall, in which they hand out more than 100 backpacks filled with school supplies. There is also a Throw Blanket Drive, which is held early winter in partnership with the Giving Tree; approximately 200 throw blankets are given to families, along with socks, underwear, hats, gloves and school supplies.

Support From Faith 

Communities, Schools 

And More

 “When reflecting back over the last two years, it truly would not be possible for Neighbors Helping Neighbors to be in this place without the support of the Mt. Horeb Clergy Association,” Hansen says. “They - along with the liasions of the partner churches of the Community Clothes Closet - have been the sounding board and a source of continual support.”

Hansen also cited help from the Mt. Horeb Area School District, Second Harvest Food Bank, Heights Unlimited in Black Earth, Outreach Lodi, the Blue Mounds Food Pantry and other groups. 

“There are a handful of other local organizations, along with too many individuals in our community to even begin to be named,” says Hansen. 

She went on to say those organizations and individuals made sure NHN “wasn’t a dream we left on piece of paper or sat around a table and talked about, but never acted on.”

“They have encouraged us to push on toward the goal to fulfill our mission, to provide food, clothing, personal items and relief services for those in need in the Mount Horeb area, which will in turn elevate the quality of life for everyone in Mt. Horeb, by providing and connecting our most vulnerable citizens with resources that can empower them to move from a survival mode to a place where they can thrive and prosper,” she says. 

Helping In The 

Era Of COVID

Hansen says the COVID-19 pandemic has provided important lessons. 

“If there is one thing we have taken away from this process, things are not black and white, and just when you think you have that perfect, executable plan, plan to change,” Hansen says. 

“We had just one more item on our check list as of March 13, before really putting our mission and vision out to the Mt Horeb Community: our plan to expand on the footprint of the Community Clothes Closet and open our new food distribution center on June 1, 2020,” she continues. “That plan changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit; it was a bump in the road that quickly changed the needs of those in our community.”

As the virus spread, the NHN board called a meeting on March 15 and quickly “retooled” its plan. 

“[We] redirected our efforts and resources, reached out to those we had been networking with, and expanding our network.” A mere five days later, they were distributing food by means of a Mobile Food Pantry.

“It was what our community needed,” Hansen states. 

She goes on to say the crisis actually made NHN stronger and taught its leadership to “continually re-evaluate needs, and make the necessary changes to meet the ever changing needs of our community.”

As volunteers plan to establish the NHN hub at 102 E. Lincoln Street, it is currently unclear what will become of the Mount Horeb Food Pantry, a separate and distinct organization that had been operating out of the same space. Michael Pharo, the food pantry’s president and CEO, did not respond to a request for comment for this article.