MILWAUKEE — “Hey everybody, we’re going on a secret mission!”
Meet Gianni – the founder of Sauce MKE. You can catch her most weekends on her bike delivering food.
“Food is a human right and I just think everybody should have it and it shouldn’t be a question,” Gianni says.
She got started during the pandemic after a grocery store dumpster diving trip.
“I cried super hard because in the dumpster was a ton of perfectly good food!” Gianni recalls.
She says a lot of restaurants and stores can’t give that food away because there’s a risk someone else will sell it for a profit.
“And so I was like, ‘okay, what do I have to do to legally get this food?’” Gianni says. “And the answer was, bang! Become a non-profit.”
And that’s how SauceMKE was born.
In the winter, Gianni and volunteers take requests and deliver to those addresses. In the summer, things are a little different.
“We actually just roll through the neighborhoods and there’s signs on the trailer that say ‘free food,’ and you actually just yell,” Gianni explains.
The bike makes that process a whole lot easier.
“That’s a lot creepier in a car.”
But Gianni says she is received with open arms.
“And what is most beautiful about it is a lot of people will say ‘no, thank you, I just ate.’ So even if they don’t have a bunch of food, if they just ate, a lot of people are like, ‘no, I’m okay!’”
Gianni focuses on plant-based food, which is healthy and cholesterol free. All of it is donated – from restaurants, stores and even neighbors.
“This is a bunch of delicious bread that was donated from Discourse Coffee!” Gianni says, holding up a loaf.
Even her burley was donated by a family nearby.
“So it’s a lot of people coming together to make a little meal,” Gianni says.
As hard as Gianni works for SauceMKE, you’re not seeing all of it. She also works full-time for the Boys and Girls Club, and is studying full-time at UW Milwaukee.
“I do sleep 8 hours a night, no matter what!” she assures us.
Eventually, she’d like to make SauceMKE her full-time gig. She’s fundraising and saving to buy a building where she hopes to include a bike shop and café. And Gianni says it’ll all be worth it for the town she loves.
“Positively Milwaukee! Milwaukee is so positive!”
