Bending the Arc

Broken Bread Food Pantry began as a ministry of the Cathedral of St. Paul in Fond du Lac, WI offering food, friendship and community. It’s been continuing to operate for over three decades, serving an average of 700 individuals each week, but numbers recently have been as high as 900. In 2024, nearly 39,000 people were served by the pantry, an increase of 7,745 from the year before. From this number, 14,000 were children.

Broken Bread operates as a “low barrier” pantry, meaning minimal requirements for eligibility such as proof of income or identification. This makes it easier for individuals to get the food they need. They depend on donations to procure the proteins, fresh produce, and dairy products they distribute. In the Fall of 2024, they started to receive TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) food distributions, operated through ADVOCAP. Unfortunately, due to federal cuts of $500 million from the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program and a pause of another $500 million from TEFAP, Broken Bread will see cuts in their program funding. 

These funding cuts are happening all over the country. Sister Peg Spindler, CSA, reports that Sojourner Truth House in Gary, Indiana, where she worked until recently, lost over $11,000, which was three-quarters of Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) funding they were receiving from United Way. Sojourner serves 2,000 people per month.

What will Broken Bread do to offset these cuts? In order to keep feeding those in need, Ann Hounsel, Broken Bread board member, is reaching out to companies outside of FDL County to ask for donations.

The Broken Bread Food Pantry, at 51 W. Division Street, operates every Friday, from 1:00-5:00 pm. It relies on the support of more than 25 volunteers for food preparation, organization, and distribution. Their collaborations with local entities like the Blandine House and the St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary, contributed to the smooth operation of the pantry. Recently, they have collaborated with Hope of the Block and in addition to the pantry, provide 60+ hot meals on Fridays.

In the summer of 2024, Broken Bread became a distribution partner in the Five to Thrive program. This program was developed by the Living Well Coalition of Fond du Lac County. Five to Thrive vouchers are intended to serve as a free community resource to increase access to local produce and help individuals reach the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables per day. As a partner, the pantry distributes the vouchers to their guests as they visit the pantry. This gives them the opportunity to visit the local Farmer’s Market for fresh produce.

In 2024, the Cathedral/Broken Bread hosted a Food Summit that brought 50 guests from food pantries in the county, the health department, and several other community organizations and members together to receive and share information and participate in round table discussions, asking the following three questions:

• What do you do to address food insecurity in FDL County? Where do you do it?
• What do you think we do well to address food insecurity and in what ways would you like to expand or improve?
• What is a food insecurity need that you perceive, but that you don’t believe is being adequately addressed in our community?

From this summit experience, collaborations formed. One example is that the Fondy Food Pantry and Broken Bread are sharing resources. Another is that ADVOCAP has offered space for Hope on the Block to move their community pantry when the Public Library was no longer able to keep it there.

This year’s Food Summit is being planned for September 2025. Broken Bread, St. Paul’s Cathedral, United Way of FDL County, UW Extension FDL, and the Bay-Lakes Council of Scouting America are working to bring the community together to provide education and start conversations and continued collaborations.

We thank Ann Sabel, Director of Broken Bread, for providing much of this information and for her services to the good people of Fond du Lac County.