FORK launches new local food resource guide

In order to provide the Vilas and Oneida County Departments of Social Services with up-to-date information around available nutritional support within each of the 47 towns in both counties, Feed Our Rural Kids (FORK) has created the Food Security Resource Guide.

“The guide is a tool we use when area residents call the Family Food Helpline at 888-479-FORK (3675) in search of locally available food support resources,” Vilas County Social Services Director Kate Gardner explained in a press release. “The guide allows our social service professionals to provide callers with information about available help based on their zip codes.”

To improve access to nutritional support information, FORK has added a Resource Locator button on its website. This means that Northwoods residents can self-search for locally available food support programs.

To find local support, visit feedourruralkids.org/get-help/. There, residents can click on the Resource Locator button and they will be taken to a list of Vilas and Oneida towns and cities.

To find out what support is available to them in their zip code, residents click on their town name and a list of locally available resources will drop down. From there, people can learn about each specific program just by clicking the name of the programs available to them.

“When families in the Northwoods find themselves without a reliable source of sufficient, affordable and nutritious food they should consider calling 888-479-FORK,” added Family Food Helpline Chairperson Kate Ferrel. “But we added the Resource Locator to the FORK’s website for those families who might first want to try and find a solution on their own.”

Gardner added that she knows calling and asking for help isn’t easy.

“That is why we support FORK’s efforts to provide this added level of privacy,” she continued. “But residents should know all calls to the helpline are confidential and that my staff is trained in navigating  food insecurity in times of economic stress for area families.”

“We want people to call,” added Ferrel. “But more importantly, we want people to find the help they need, so we created the Resource Locator.”

Individuals who are interested in financially supporting FORK’s family Food Helpline can go to feedourruralkids.org/donate.

Feed Our rural Kids is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.