“I am on a fixed income. The food helped reduce my grocery expenses. This allowed me to pay other household expenses. The food boxes definitely had an impact on my monthly budget.”
Wisconsin Tribal Elder

Tribal Elder Food Box Program

Hunger impacts every community in the United States, yet Native Americans are more likely to face hunger. Before the pandemic, 1 in 4 Native Americans struggled with hunger – more than twice the rate of white individuals. It is our vision to collaborate in a multi-sector coalition of partners to build a vibrant food system. This food system will provide nutritious and culturally appropriate foods for people in need. It will also support the economic development of indigenous and local food producers in the Great Lakes region. The pandemic highlighted the crisis of food insecurity within Tribal communities and since 2019, Tribal Nations in Wisconsin and Michigan have been working to enhance food sovereignty through the growth of the Tribal Elder Food Box Program (TEFBP). An outcome of the efforts is the development of the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition (GLIFC).

In working toward this vision, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is collaborating in direct partnership with the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition (GLIFC). GLIFC is an intertribal partnership of all 11 federally recognized Tribes in Wisconsin which aims to address the unique health and economic needs of the Great Lakes Tribes by building a network of Tribal producers and supporting traditional foodways, food access, and economic development within Tribal communities. Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s partnership with GLIFC supports efforts being led by Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes Region to expand programs like the TEFBP, which increases nutrition security to Tribal Elders and expands support and capacity of Tribal and local food producers.

READ MORE: Wisconsin Farmers Union Article

“It’s been one of the most exciting projects I have worked on in my whole professional career. We thought it was huge and then it got a lot bigger this year. Elders are very appreciative of the food, but are also excited to have access to food that can be very difficult for them to access.”
Jennifer Falck, Environmental Health Director - Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin

Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition Mission

The mission of the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition is to heal our communities by strengthening our Indigenous food networks.

Tribal Elder Food Box Program Goal

The goal of the Tribal Elder Food Box Program is to increase access to nutritious, culturally meaningful foods for Tribal members over 55 years old. Partners purchase foods from Indigenous and non-Indigenous local producers to pack and deliver Elder desired food boxes to Tribal Distribution Sites.

“The Tribal Elder Food Box Program is a prime example of innovation and community engagement that addresses hunger and food insecurity for some of the most vulnerable tribal citizens in Wisconsin. This project incorporates a model of collaboration and coordination with the other food banks and local tribal community leaders which promotes shared power and ownership with the Native Nations in the state. Other food banks from around the nation are looking to the Tribal Elder Food Box Program as a model for building stronger partnerships with the tribes and Native communities they serve.”
Mark Ford, Director of Native and Tribal Partnerships - Feeding America

What’s inside a Tribal Elder Food Box?

Tribal Elder Food Boxes typically contain:

  • Proteins such as grass-fed beef, bison, chicken, and pork
  • Produce items such as greens, apples, berries, heirloom white corn, beans, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and other seasonal fresh foods
  • Shelf stable items such as hand-harvested wild rice, maple syrup, hand-picked and dried tea, corn mush flour, and popcorn

*All foods are representative of traditional, Indigenous foods as desired by Tribal Elders and 100% of the food for the Tribal Elder Food Box Program is purchased from local Wisconsin or Great Lakes Region producers.

Sign Up To Volunteer

Interested in helping to pack food items into Tribal Elder Food Boxes during the upcoming growing season? Click the button below to view available volunteer shifts for Tribal Elder Food Box packs.

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How Did We Get Here

In August of 2021, Tribal and non-Tribal food systems leaders came together to respond to food insecurity exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in that partnership meeting was Feeding Wisconsin who pulled together funding from Feeding America National Organization (FANO) to begin the Tribal Elder Food Box Program (TEFBP). The TEFBP purchases healthy and culturally specific foods from local Wisconsin producers and distributes it to Tribal Elders across Wisconsin. In the first year of distributions, the TEFBP delivered a total of 10,800 food boxes to Elders from 7 of the 11 federally recognized Tribes in Wisconsin. These food distributions helped address food insecurity issues and support community health and cultural revival.

In 2022, the program expanded to include partnership between all 11 federally recognized Tribes in Wisconsin. Tribal leaders formed the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition (GLIFC) which contains a decision-making governing body consisting of elected representatives from each of the 11 Tribes in Wisconsin. To run the TEFBP, GLIFC partners with many organizations and together, they successfully applied for funding through FANO and the American Rescue Plan Act to expand the TEFBP to serve all 11 federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin, to more than double the number of food boxes being delivered.

In 2023, GLIFC and FAEW expanded program funding through the United States Department of Agriculture Intertribal Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA).

They have focused on building administrative and organizational capacity within GLIFC, increasing distribution to also serve 3 Local sites in Milwaukee County.

In 2024, GLIFC and FAEW secured funding through the State of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection Tribal Elder Community Food Box Program – funding set aside by Governor Evers in support of the TEFBP as a direct result of GLIFC advocacy work. The 2023-2025 State Budget included $1.5 million annually for a Tribal Elder Community Food Box Program and FAEW was funded as a fiscal sponsor in support of the program. Additionally, continued funding from the USDA’s LFPA program is supporting food purchasing for the 2024-2026 TEFBP seasons. Having reliable, long-term funding solutions allows Local producers to invest in their operations and encourages additional Local producers to begin farming at larger scales.

Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition

Central to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s vision is to work collaboratively with partners to not only ensure people have enough to eat, but also to have the resources to build a pathway to stability. In partnership, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is contributing many resources to support GLIFC’s procurement, operational, and distribution needs including staff time, warehouse and volunteer capacity, and funding opportunities. In 2022, GLIFC hired an Intertribal Food System Coordinator who has been working closely with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s Procurement and Programs Manager to do pre-season and in-season producer planning and build relationships with all the 65+ TEFBP producers from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. The team also works closely with the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative to store, aggregate, and distribute boxes to all 11 Federally Recognized Tribes in Wisconsin as well as to Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Madison urban tribal communities.

For more information, please visit GreatLakesIntertribalFood.org.

Collaborators and Members of GLIFC

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, healthTIDE, UW-Madison, Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council, Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, Intertribal Agricultural Council, Great Lakes Intertribal Council, the Center for Integrated Agriculture Systems, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Forest County Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk Nation, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Oneida Nation, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Sokaogon Chippewa Community (Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, Southeast Oneida Tribal Services and Milwaukee Indian Council of the Elderly.

 

Learn More About GLIFC