Hunger Task Force Donates Veggies on Valentine’s Day

canned food donations from Hunger Task Force

Hunger Task Force made Valentine’s Day a bit sweeter for Hope Center Pantry. The task force donated a pallet of 36 boxes of canned vegetables to our pantry. Each box had roughly 30 15-ounce cans. That means the pantry received approximately 1,100 cans!

The timing was perfect, because pantry managers were just about to place their next bulk order for canned vegetables. The donated canned vegetables, which filled the pantry’s back storage room, are being distributed to Pantry clients.

New Partnership with Hunger Task Force

The Hunger Task Force, a food bank based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recently expanded its outreach to Northeast Wisconsin. We eagerly joined up with the organization and are grateful for their food donation. Hunger Task Force believes that every person has a right to healthy food obtained with dignity. The task force works to prevent hunger and malnutrition by providing food to people in need today and by promoting social policies to achieve a hunger free community tomorrow.

Pantry Is Open Monday-Thursday Afternoon

Hope Center Pantry, 505 Clinton St., Green Bay, is open from 1-3pm Monday through Thursday. Stop by the pantry during business hours to register as a client or volunteer.

Women’s Club Fights Hunger in Green Bay

women's club donated food to Hope Center Pantry

The Brown County Community Women’s Club (BCCWC) organized a food drive on Jan. 15. BCCWC donated 50 bags of food, along with 21 colorful birthday bags, to Hope Center Pantry. The Pantry truly appreciates the women’s club’s kindness and generosity. Their commitment to helping those in need makes a huge impact on our community. With these food donations, countless families will be able to enjoy nourishing meals. The club’s compassion truly makes the world a better place.

Would your nonprofit organization like to organize a food drive to help fight hunger in Green Bay? Contact us for more information.

Food Drive: Bags for a Brighter Holiday

nonperishable food from Save A Lot Food drive

On Jan. 7, 2025, Hope Center Pantry received a call that filled our hearts with gratitude. The Pantry’s neighborhood grocery store, Save A Lot, offered us a substantial amount of food for its holiday food drive. The grocery store collected the food donations during its 7th annual Bags for a Brighter Holiday food drive. This nationwide food drive program is a powerful reminder of how communities can come together to support those in need. The Pantry is honored to be the recipient of this generosity.

Milk Voucher Partnership with Grocer

For over three years, Hope Center Food Pantry has partnered with Save A Lot to provide a simple but essential resource for our pantry clients: pre-paid gallon milk voucher cards. This partnership has allowed us to offer a critical item, fresh milk, in a way that gives our clients the flexibility to choose the milk they prefer when they need it most.

Contact Us to Organize a Food Drive

Together, we’re not just providing food; we’re offering hope, dignity, and the resources our neighbors need to thrive, one meal at a time! Contact us to organize a food drive at your business. Hope Center Pantry relies on food donations from the community year-round. Please consider helping us alleviate poverty and hunger in Green Bay.

Fighting Hunger: Pantry Feeds 16,000 in 2024

Landon packing boxes at Hope Center Food Pantry

Thousands of people in Green Bay, Wisconsin, face hunger. They struggled to put food on their tables in 2024. In fact, Hope Center Pantry served a staggering 16,406 people in 2024, according to pantry records. Hope Center Pantry, formerly operating as St. Patrick’s Pantry, is a hunger-relief organization serving Brown County, Wisconsin, since the 1970s. In 2024, the pantry provided food to 4,817 clients, representing 16,406 when factoring in the number of household members. Hope Center Pantry collaborates with other social service organizations to find ways to break the cycle of poverty. We’re making progress, but we still have work to do to end food insecurity for the people in the Green Bay area.

2024 Food Pantry Statistics

  • 4,817 clients served in 2024, a decrease of 111 from 2023
  • 16,406 people served, based on number of people in the clients’ households
  • 87 active food pantry volunteers
  • 751 new clients registered, a decrease of 67 from 2023

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

Hope Center Pantry believes that access to nutritious food is critical to good health and well-being. We strive to get food into the homes of people who need it. We are extremely fortunate to have the support from seven West Side Catholic parishes: Annunciation, St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Joseph, St. Jude, Nativity of Our Lord, and St. Patrick and many others in the community. Join us in fighting hunger in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Please consider a donation of nonperishable food, time, or financial resources. Contact us to learn more.

Hope Center Pantry volunteers

Volunteers Invited to Join New Leadership Team

Originally published in On Mission magazine. Reprinted with permission.

By Jeff Kurowski | On Mission

The value to the community of Hope Center Pantry is clear in the words of the people it serves.

“Your pantry means food in between paying bills and working to keep up. I’m so very grateful for all who volunteer at the pantry. May God bless you all.”

Lisa A

“As a Vietnam veteran, I am thankful and grateful for the food and items the Hope Center Pantry provides. Thank you.”

David B.

“I use the pantry, and I appreciate how organized it is. With my already stressed life, I know that when I go there, I’ll be able to do some laundry or get dish soap to do my dishes, and cook a few meals.”

Billie Sue W.

“Going to your pantry, you make people feel like people are human, and not people who are in need of help and afraid to ask.”

Janine A.

Pantry Leadership Structure Change

As long as the food assistance needs exist, Hope Center Pantry, located at 505 Clinton St. on Green Bay’s west side, will continue to provide groceries and hygiene items, but the leadership structure will change in 2025 and volunteers are still needed to fill three positions. Janice and Chris Clemens, members of Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Ashwaubenon, have served as directors of the Hope Center Pantry since June 1, 2021. They will be stepping down at the four-year mark.

Janice Clemens, and her husband, Chris Clemens, began serving as directors of Hope Center Pantry in June of 2021. They will step down after four years. A new structure that features nine volunteer leadership positions is being implemented. A leadership structure that includes a director and eight other positions succeeds the couple.

Succession Board Forms

“About two years ago, we got together and did a focus group,” said Janice. “We went through all the things that we do. We developed some ideas to take to the (Hope Center Board) for recommendations moving forward. One of the (focus group participants) was a businessman who recently retired. He said, ‘It’s just too much to ask all those duties of one person or one couple. How about we break it down?’” As a result, a succession board was formed to help create and fill the new volunteer positions. The Hope Center Pantry currently has 100 volunteers who serve 400 families each month, which equates to about 1,200 people.

3 Volunteer Positions to Fill

Six of the nine volunteer positions have been filled. One-year commitments are sought for the following:

  • Keeping the pantry stocked
  • Writing the quarterly newsletter
  • Coordinating volunteers

Job descriptions created for each of the nine positions include the estimated number of weekly hours, ranging from one to 12, to complete the tasks.

“These jobs may look scary on paper, but when you actually do them, they’re easy to step into. We have step-by-step what to do. We have everything documented,” said Chris.

“By breaking it into the different positions, if someone leaves, you only have one person you need to replace, not somebody who does everything,” he said.

“We’ve tapped into our volunteers over and over again, but need to look outside that group,” said Janice.

Third Largest Food Pantry in Green Bay

Hope Center Pantry is the third largest food pantry in Brown County after Paul’s Pantry and Manna For Life. It is the former St. Patrick Food Pantry, which was founded nearly 28 years ago at St. Patrick Parish.

The pantry moved to the Hope Center, which when the facility opened in August of 2016. Janice and Chris succeeded Donna Kessler, who served as pantry director for 20 years.

Catholic Parishes Support the Pantry

The Hope Center building, which houses Hope Center Pantry and Love Life Ministry West, is supported through Catholic outreach of the west side Catholic parishes of Annunciation, St. Joseph, St. Jude, St. Patrick, St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Nativity of Our Lord. Regular donations for the food pantry are provided by Annunciation, St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Joseph and St. Jude parishes; St. Norbert College, De Pere; and St. Matthew and Resurrection parishes, both in Allouez.

The pantry is open from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

A Reward for Volunteerism

“We will be around to guide people,” said Janice about the months before their four-year service term ends. “They can watch us do the job and then we can let them do it. I feel proud of what we can hand off.”

Chris said the reward for their volunteerism is their relationships with other volunteers and clients.

“The clients usually come the same day of the week. I know most of the people who come on Tuesdays (a regular shift he and Janice work) by name and they all know me,” he said. “If they get a new job, they tell us, “I might not need to come back.’ We say, ‘Well, you keep coming until you don’t need to.’”

“We have clients who are nonsheltered homeless, so they aren’t able to cook, freeze or refrigerate anything,” said Janice. “We took the order (of a homeless man) and he asked for pancake mix. ‘A friend let me move in, so now I can do that,’ he said. “We celebrate that with them. He can now have something more than a pop-top can of chicken or tuna that goes on crackers.

A Good Cause & Well-Run Operation

“We need to get the message out that there’s this very good cause and it’s a very well-run operation,” said Janice.

If you are interested in any of the three open volunteer leadership positions or for more information, email hopecenterpantrygb@gmail.com or call (920) 437-3356.

Humana Foundation Donation: To-Go Meals for Homeless

Humana Foundation donated single-serve food items to Hope Center Pantry

On Dec. 5, Hope Center Pantry, Green Bay, was astounded by an extremely generous food donation from the Humana Foundation. The foundation donated to Hope Center Pantry through Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin. Hope Center Pantry received individual bowls of cereal, cans of macaroni and beef, fruit and grain bars, cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers, canned chicken, individual containers of diced peaches, and jars of peanut butter

Single-Serving Food for To-Go Meals

Humana Foundation provided single-serving, nonperishable foods that are perfect for our meal bags. Hope Center Pantry packs to-go meals for the non-sheltered guests at a Green Bay homeless shelter. We pack each meal with great care.

600 Meals for Non-Sheltered Homeless

At Hope Center Pantry, we know the importance of providing foods that homeless individuals are able to eat with little meal preparation. Humana Foundation’s generous food donation will provide at least 600 meals to the homeless. That’s enough food for non-sheltered guests until summer 2025.

Please Donate Food, Time, or Money

Hope Center Pantry is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other Green Bay-area nonprofits. Together, we can make a lasting impact on people in need, including individuals experiencing housing insecurity. Please consider donating food, time, or financial resources to Hope Center Pantry. Contact us to learn more.

Celebrating Families with Meals for Amanda’s House

meal at Amanda's House

Mandolin Foundation (a.k.a. Amanda’s House) provides safe and supportive transitional housing for women recovering from trauma, mental health issues, and substance use. The house, located at 825 N. Webster Ave., Green Bay, helps women transform their lives to become independent members of the community.

Feeding Women & Children at Amanda’s House

In fall 2024, Amanda’s House contacted Hope Center Pantry, asking us to contribute to a new initiative, Celebrating Families. Celebrating Families, held on 16 consecutive Sundays, enables resident families to gather in the afternoon to share a meal and learn about a specific educational topic. Amanda’s House representatives asked the pantry to provide food for the first four meals.

Recipes & Ingredients for Family Meals

The Hope Center Pantry was honored to partner with Amanda’s House for Celebrating Families meals. The pantry will provide recipes and ingredients to feed about 10 people. At the end of the 16 weeks, the residents will receive a recipe book that contains recipes for every meal served. What a great way to give residents the tools they need to make healthy meals in their own homes.

Church & Nonprofit Partnerships

Partnerships like these are possible because of the generosity of the Hope Center Pantry donors and volunteers. The Hope Center is a collaboration of seven Green Bay West Side Catholic parishes: Annunciation, St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Joseph, St. Jude, Nativity of Our Lord, and St. Patrick. Hope Center Pantry also works with other churches, businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to help break the cycle of poverty. Contact us for more information.

Thanksgiving Turkeys from Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin

Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin gave Thanksgiving turkeys to Hope Center Pantry

Gathering around the table for a Thanksgiving Day feast is an American tradition. Unfortunately, families facing food insecurity are unable to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in the traditional manner. That’s when Hope Center Pantry steps in.

A Thanksgiving Meal

In November, Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin allocated 48 turkeys to the Hope Center Pantry to distribute to our clients in the Green Bay area. The Pantry also gave roasting pans to clients who needed them. In addition to giving away the 48 turkeys and several roasting pans, the pantry also offered clients an array of food to complete their Thanksgiving meal. The pantry distributed stuffing mix, yams (sweet potatoes), pumpkin, gravy, and cranberries. Pantry clients truly appreciated turkeys and Thanksgiving fixings.

Thanks to Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin

Thank you to Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin and to everyone who donated nonperishable food. You are such a blessing! Pantry donors helped to make Thanksgiving Day special for so many people in Green Bay. Thank you!

Souper Run: Green Bay Running Club Chases Down Hunger

logo for Green Bay Running Club

The Green Bay Running Club is making an impact on hunger. On Oct. 28, the Green Bay Running Club presented Hope Center Pantry with seven large boxes of nonperishable food and a monetary donation. One of the members recently hosted a “Souper Run.” Runners were encouraged to bring canned food or a monetary donation for Hope Center Pantry. The runners sure came through!

Green Bay Running Club Donates to Pantry

The Green Bay Running Club’s Souper Run shows how an organization can extend a helping hand while building healthy habits through exercise. We thank the club for its generosity and invite other nonprofit organizations to likewise give back to the community.

Host a Food Drive or Hygiene Supply Drive

Hope Center Pantry is so grateful to all organizations that organize food drives. Follow the example of the Elks, Scouts, Brown County Women’s Club, and National Association of Letter Carriers. If your school, business, or nonprofit is interested in organizing a food drive or hygiene supply collection drive for Hope Center Pantry, please contact us. Help us serve and guide those who are in need in the Green Bay area.

Serenity House: Leading People to Recovery

Hope Center Pantry resource table at Serenity House


On Sept. 8, the Hope Center Pantry set up a resource table at Serenity House in Green Bay. The sober-living home celebrated the opening of a second location, and we were honored to participate in the special event. It warmed our hearts to see the outpouring of support from neighbors and friends at the open house. The Pantry provides food to residents as needed, as the residents work to make positive changes in their lives. We are glad that we can partner with this organization and support these residents as they strive to achieve sustained recovery. Contact us to ask us about partnering with your Green Bay business or nonprofit.

What is Serenity House?

The Serenity House provides safe and sober living by connecting residents with the Twelve Step Communities leading into a growing relationship with God and a lifetime of recovery. Their vision is to help individuals suffering from alcohol and drug addiction to receive a life that they never imagined possible, through God, recovery and the twelve steps. (Source: Serenity House website)