Donating to the Pantry

Donations to our Spring Green Community Food Pantry matter more than you might know.

Thanks to your donations in 2024, the pantry was able to provide food to many in our area. We are thankful to the residents and businesses in Spring Green and the surrounding towns who have so generously given to the Spring Green Community Food Pantry so it can serve those in need.

You might wonder why donations of money are preferred to donations of food. When people donate money the pantry is able to get some of the needed food at a discount from Second Harvest Food Bank in Madison. Second Harvest can also buy in bulk at lower prices. Because Second Harvest is located in Dane County our access to the food is limited. But we take advantage of that access whenever possible and that stretches our dollars and yours much further. So your donation of cash, be it $10 or $500, will purchase more needed food than if you shopped for it yourself.

Donating cash also allows the staff to purchase what the pantry users really need and want. We do not end up with food sitting on shelves instead of going into a family’s kitchen. In the summer, when the community garden and residential gardens are producing fresh vegetables, we invite people then to share what they have from their own gardens. Sometimes the pantry ends up with more than we can use after distribution day and notifies the community that remaining vegetables are available to anyone who wishes to come and get them.

People make donations for a number of reasons: to raise funds for sports teams or for a hospital that was part of a friend’s cancer treatment, for people affected by natural disasters like flooding or hurricanes. Even when someone dies, we often give a gift of money to the surviving family, money that might help pay medical bills or funeral expenses.

Being generous increases our feeling of happiness and that happiness can even be a motivation for more generosity.

In one study researchers at the University of Lubeck, Germany, conducted an experiment with volunteers they tested (using a paper and pencil test) to determine their level of happiness. They then divided the volunteers in to two control groups. One group was instructed to spend the money on something for themselves and the other group was instructed to spend the money on someone else. They then scanned the volunteers’ brains with functional magnetic resonance to see what happened at the neuronal level when participants either gave money to others or kept it for themselves.

The link between generosity and happiness has to do with the interaction between two brain areas, the parietal temporal junction and the ventral striatum.

We know that giving is a universal trait, independent of socioeconomic status. In this study, researchers noted that generous decisions activated the varietal temporal union in the brain more in the group who used the money for someone else than in the group who used the money for themselves. “The activity of the striatum during generous decision making is directly involved in the changes of the feeling of happiness,” said the study authors.

It is more than likely that our ancestors did not survive alone. Humans are social beings. Generosity enhances social relationships and it is common in all cultures.

Mailing a check to the food pantry takes only a few minutes, but that money goes a long way in assisting those in need of food. And giving that gift will also contribute to your own happiness. A win win for all.

Submitted by Mary Friedel-Hunt