Each year in Milwaukee right before Thanksgiving, an annual food drive event in collaboration with Pick ‘n Save – Stuff the Bus – encourages people to do their part to fill multiple Milwaukee County Transit System buses with thousands of pounds of non-perishable food items for families experiencing food insecurity. And each year, radio personalities Elizabeth Kay and Radar Hess of Milwaukee’s 99.1 The Mix have been the voices behind this event, getting people  charged up and ready to donate online or bring food items – or even frozen turkeys – to pack the bus.

They say their energy and enthusiasm for this annual event comes from their ability to use their platform to help out the community.

“It means a lot year after year to see our listeners show up and witness this become a family tradition,” Elizabeth said. “It warms our hearts to watch people come together for such a good cause. Seeing what the reach has been is overwhelming.”

“Once you see the people come out and donate and thank us for making this our charity, you really kind of get that warm fuzzy feeling,” Radar said. “I’m a short guy, so my voice is the only big thing about me. So to be able to tell people, ‘Hey, come out and donate,’ and then have them actually listen to that voice, it really gives you a special feeling.”

The Mix’s partnership with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin was a “natural fit,” Elizabeth said. It began years ago with a desire by the radio station to be a part of a holiday food drive with great visual impact – and seeing buses filled up with food especially impacts young donors, some of whom come by to donate money from their piggy banks that they’ve saved all year.

“And it’s like, ‘Man, you’re eight years old and you’re going to give back instead of saving for yourself?’ That’s incredible,” Radar said.

During the event, Elizabeth and Radar try “to share many different stories of people who are facing hunger, because we’re trying to convey to people that hunger doesn’t discriminate,” she said. An example that sticks with her is a retired teacher whose husband had suddenly passed away and subsequently had family members move in. “And that was very eye-opening for myself and Radar. We walked away from that reminded that these families are often just experiencing circumstances that they can’t control, and that’s why it’s important to help.”

Additionally, Radar is moved by “veterans and senior citizens who come from that proud generation of, ‘I can handle myself, I don’t need handouts.’ But we know that they need that help, so we’re always trying to get the word out.”

During one Stuff the Bus event several years ago, Elizabeth and Radar had set an ambitious goal for frozen turkeys during the broadcast. “Well, the broadcast was winding down and we were short about 20 turkeys from our goal.” That’s when a man arrived with a shopping cart full of frozen turkeys. “He said, ‘My wife of over 50 years is dying of cancer right now at the hospital. I was leaving the hospital and I just felt really lost, and I turned on the radio and I heard what you all were doing, and I thought, we’ve been blessed with such an incredible life; she would want me to give back.”

“That was a moment when I realized this is impacting people in so many ways,” Elizabeth said. “And that inspired more people – and that’s the ripple effect of what this broadcast can do for Stuff the Bus.”