MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Sally LaFountain’s journey with the Siggenaek Center Food Pantry started back in 2019.
“To me, understanding a culture that’s different from your own, whatever that culture happens to be, is very important,” said LaFountain.
Affectionately known as "Sam," she saw the growing number of Hispanic and Native American residents coming through the doors and decided to transition from volunteering to help run it full-time.
“We desperately need to make sure that we can communicate with these people in the proper manner so they don’t misunderstand what we’re trying to do for them,” said LaFountain.
Watch: Local food pantry works to respect cultures of clients.
Housed next door to the Congregation of the Great Spirit in the Historic Mitchell Street neighborhood, the nonprofit works with Hunger Task Force to serve an average of nearly 250 pounds of food per person.
“They could easily have serviced maybe at most 10 people a week, and now we are running between 800 and 1,000 people per month,” said LaFountain.
Isabel Habana started volunteering in the pantry about a year ago.
“I always came here and got food, and everybody knows me here, so I decided to stay,” said Habana.
Habana calls the area home and is one of the pantry's bilingual volunteers.
She tries to help her neighbors and make them feel as safe as she can.
“It's very rewarding. I've been doing it for so many years, and there’s no other thing that I would rather do than be here,” said Habana.
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