MILWAUKEE — Summertime in Milwaukee is usually about food, fun, and music festivals, but for too many of our neighbors, summer hunger is a real issue.
"Summertime is really the peak of childhood hunger because a lot of families who normally would depend on school meals to feed their kids don't have access to those same meals when schools are closed," said Matt King, interim Chief Operating Officer of the Hunger Task Force.
King was @TheTable Tuesday night along with Doug Gordon CEO of WaterStone Bank. Both were part of the Stop Summer Hunger Campaign at TMJ4.
"We see a lot of increase in traffic at our pantries, we actually have seen a 23% increase just this year at food pantries," said King. "So right now, we're serving 55,000 people a month, half of those are kids."
Gordon and his team of volunteers from WaterStone Bank helped take in $14,266 in donations from TMJ4 viewers during a three-hour phone drive to raise money.
It's so important for us to give back to the community and one of our pillars is helping families in need, said Gordon. The Hunger Task Force does a fantastic job of doing that. So, that's why we've partnered with them since 2007."
Watch the full conversation in the video at the top of this article.
Charles Benson and Shannon Sims interview key people in our community during TMJ4's @TheTable segment weeknights at 10 p.m.
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