At least once a week, you can find Scott and Darla Turk packing food at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s Appleton facility, or helping out with special projects like the Tribal Elder Food Box Program. You may also find Scott driving a truck for the food bank, or making deliveries to pantry partners on a 100-mile route around Northeast Wisconsin.

But even all of that didn’t seem like enough for the Turks, who have been volunteering for the organization since the Fall of 2022 following Scott’s retirement from Point Beach Nuclear Plant. So in Winter of 2023, Scott stopped in for a chat with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s volunteer team.

“I asked if there was anything they really needed that wasn’t in the budget,” Scott said. It turned out the organization was in desperate need of a new forklift for its volunteer team – a vital piece of equipment for moving product throughout the warehouse, and preparing it for transport.

Having previously made a donation towards the purchase of a 26-foot truck for Green Bay Habitat for Humanity, Scott knew that if volunteers could come together to raise some of the funds for a large-scale item, then it was more likely to build momentum for the rest.

“I’d had that in my mind,” Scott said. “And Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin was at a point where they needed a forklift. I had no idea what a forklift cost, but we offered to contribute towards that. We’ve been blessed so much, there’s a part of me that always feels like, if I don’t do it, who will?”

After the recent passing of Darla’s father, Jack, the Turks inherited additional resources for a gift. “We’ve always given, it’s just always been a part of our lives, and we were taught that young,” Darla said. “Our faith is strong so it’s always been a part of us.”

In conjunction with the fundraising efforts, it was decided that the individual or organization who made the largest donation to the campaign would get to name the forklift (even if it meant naming it “Forky McForklift”). Through the Turks’ generous donation and those of many other volunteers, “Jack” hit the ground ready to help our neighbors in need in March of 2024. A befitting name coming from a man who spent his life owning and operating a construction business.

“Jack” lifts up the volunteer team in  making a significant difference for those who are facing hunger in Eastern Wisconsin. Dozens of individuals and organizations stepped up to offer donations to reach the $50,000 goal for the forklift, including Marie and Paul Sauvey, Diana Laserstein, Kathy Krause, Jeffrey and Ruth Hargreaves, Lynn Mehlberg and Timothy Geiger, Laura Manley-Mispagel of Old National Bank, Paul Wilfer, Samuel Hamilton and Nancy Tsai, Steven Fusfield, Titus Talent Strategies, and Brian Kiln.