[ distribution sites ]
As Milwaukee’s basic needs bank, we partner with local social service agencies to provide a reliable source of basic essentials for the families they serve.
We do not provide direct service to families. If you are in need of diapers or period products, please visit or contact one of the organizations listed below.
Friedens Food Pantries is a network of food centers building community through nourishment. We envision a world of peace where people have enough good food to eat and can focus on building community. As the largest food center network in Milwaukee, Friedens is a stabilizing force in our neighborhoods. We strive to leverage food to build relationships and address the holistic needs of community members.
4 locations and hours of service:
Despensa de la Paz (serves all Milwaukee zip codes)
1615 S. 22nd Street Milwaukee, WI 53204
SAT 10am-12pm
Hope House (serves the 53204 zip code)
209 W. Orchard Street Milwaukee, WI 53204
TU/TH 12:30pm-2:30pm & SAT 10am-12pm
Zion Rock (serves the 53223, 53224, and 53225 zip codes)
10230 W. Fond Du Lac Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53224
TUE 5pm-7pm & SAT 10am-12pm
Coggs Center (serves the 53205 zip code)
1220 W. Vliet Street Milwaukee, WI 53205
MON/FRI 9am-12pm & WED 10am-1pm
Home Delivery is a pantry program that provides once-a-month food delivery to those in our community with disabilities or health conditions that prevent them from leaving their homes.
The Jewish Community Pantry, an effort co-sponsored by the JCC and the Women’s Philanthropy of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, provides emergency food to individuals and families in crisis throughout the greater Milwaukee community. Connecting clients to community resources, while increasing our community’s awareness of hunger’s impact and working to alleviate its impact, the Pantry is our Jewish communal response to hunger in Milwaukee.
2900 W. Center Street Milwaukee, WI 53210
Tuesday 4pm-6pm Thursday 9am–12pm
This pantry serves the 53210 and 53216 zip codes.
Kinship Community Food Center engages volunteers and neighborhood residents to end hunger, isolation, and poverty. Our innovative programs nourish food security and wellness, foster belonging, and community engagement, and empower stability and economic prosperity in our city. Kinship Community Food Center envisions a community where all are nourished, all of us belong, and all of us can prosper.
St. Casimir’s Church Parking Lot
924 E Clarke St. Milwaukee, WI 53212
Tuesday 4-6pm Saturday 8:30-10:30am
This pantry serves the 53202, 53203, 53211, 53212 and 53217 zip codes.
The Bay View Community Center brings people together to build community as an inclusive, independent, community-supported, nonprofit organization.
1320 E. Oklahoma Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53207
Tuesday 4-6pm Wednesday 4-6pm Friday 1:30-4pm
This pantry serves the 53207, 53221, 53235 and 53215 zip codes.
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges
In our work with partners and each other, we commit to:
Put the community first.
Practice leadership with, rather than over, each other.
Ensure Metcalfe Park residents are active participants in and beneficiaries of its development.
Engage youth and residents as equal partners in decision-making and co-create opportunities with them in mind.
Work together over the long term to redevelop and reinvigorate Metcalfe Park.
3624 W. North Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53208
Call to schedule a shopping appointment: 414-533-7532
Dominican Center works with Amani residents and partners to build a better future. We provide essential needs and offer Adult Education programming, hydroponics programming and we serve as a convener for the Amani neighborhood, connecting residents to resources and partner services in the resident-identified areas of Housing & Economic Development, Education & Family Well-Being and Neighborhood Safety.
2470 W. Locust St, Milwaukee, WI 53206
(414) 444-9930
Monday-Friday 9am-3pm, or by appointment. Our staff is currently hybrid and can be reached by cell phone or email.
Wellpoint Care Network
Wellpoint Care Network has been a local human-services provider for nearly as long as Milwaukee has existed as a city. What began as caring for children who lost parents to the cholera epidemic, has blossomed into an array of services for children, youth, adults and families.
8901 W. Capitol Drive Milwaukee, WI 53222
(414) 463-1880
The Muskego Way Forward Initiative connects residents, partners and resources around residents’ hopes for the Muskego Way neighborhood, building on existing people and places to strengthen the neighborhood, create opportunity and build leadership. This work is resident driven, staffed and supported by the Milwaukee Christian Center. We embrace a vision of neighbors that seek to grow confidence, support, ownership and sense of community among one another.
For more information, contact:
Program Coordinator Alison Henderson | 414-502-7199 ahenderson@mccwi.org
Initiative Coordinator Elizabeth Ramirez | 414-215-9905 eramirez@mccwi.org
*Se Habla Español.
UW-Milwaukee Food Center and Pantry
During Fall 2016, the Student Association conducted a campus wide survey addressing food insecurity. From those survey results, we learned that roughly 50% of UWM students report not having enough food to eat. For some, this might seem like a surprising statistic, but for half of the UWM student population, this is their reality.
Our mission is to ensure that the entire UWM community has access to nutritious food and key necessities in a welcoming and educational space. We collect demographic information and a variety of other data to improve processes and ensure that it is equitable, inclusive and accessible to meet the needs of the UWM diverse student population.
UWM Student Union Room 348
Mondays 9am-12pm Wednesdays 1:30pm-5pm Thursdays 10am-12pm Fridays 11am-1pm
**Must be enrolled in classes at UWM to visit this site**
MATC FAST Fund is an independent, faculty-run non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) students experiencing economic emergencies so they remain enrolled and graduate. We help with basic needs such as assistance with rent, transportation, utilities, childcare and more. Our goal is to assist students fast without making them jump through hoops by getting them aid within 24-48 hours.
1027 N. 7th Street Foundation Hall 8th floor Milwaukee, WI 53233
Monday-Friday 8am-4pm
For MATC students only.
Rooted & Rising (formerly United Methodist Children’s Services) Rooted & Rising has a deep commitment to and long-standing presence in Milwaukee’s Washington Park neighborhood, where it has provided a wide range of social service programs and assistance to low-income, marginalized families, including affordable housing, community health promotion, community organizing, emergency food center and family resource center, social work and childcare.
3940 W Lisbon Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53208
Monday-Friday 8:30am-5pm
(414) 344-1818
Penfield Children’s Center
As a leader in child development, Penfield Children’s Center helps children with and without disabilities reach their full potential by providing early education, health and wellness services, and family programs. Today, we serve more than 1,500 children annually by offering high-quality services in a safe and stimulating environment.
*Families must be enrolled in the home visitation program to receive services from Penfield Children’s Center.
The Cathedral Center
Providing a safe environment for women & families while working to end homelessness one life at a time.
845 N Van Buren St, Milwaukee, WI 53202
Open every day 8am-5pm
(414) 831-0394
Next Door Milwaukee
Next Door supports the intellectual, physical and emotional development of children by partnering with their families for success in school and the community.
Next Door serves nearly 1,400 children a year from birth to five years old through two center-based sites, a home visitation program and 11 partnership sites in Milwaukee County.
*Families must be enrolled in the home visitation program to receive services from Next Door.
Hmong American Women’s Association
Mission: To organize SEA women, girls, Queer and Trans people to champion gender justice and collective liberation.
3030 W Highland Blvd, Milwaukee, WI 53208
Our Community Closet is open to the community by appointment only. Monday through Friday 9:00AM — 4:00PM
*Call 414‑930‑9352 to schedule an appointment.
The Findley Foundation assists individuals in becoming healthy, healed, and whole by providing vocational training & education, case management, health and behavioral health services. Diapers will be distributed via their permanent and pop-up medical clinics.
10721 W Capitol Dr Ste 110/210, Wauwatosa, WI 53222
Monday-Friday 8am-5pm
(414) 988-3079
The Robyn’s Nest - a program of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
The Robyn's Nest houses new and gently used clothing, hygiene products, infant items, toys, books, and other household goods. The Robyn's Nest provides these items free to the families within our foster care system as well as those identified to have unmet needs through Children's Wisconsin.
(414) 231-4820
*Please contact the Milwaukee office to determine if staff can access Robyn’s Nest resources for you or your client.
Dad Doula
A non-birthing parent course that is designed to empower and guide fathers as they learn to support and advocate for their birthing partners by sharing stories, tools, resources and social emotional strategies to promote the pursuit of healthy babies and families.
(706)304-1360
Email: Josh@melanateddaddy.com
Hours of operation: flexible based on need
Birth Outcomes Made Better (B.O.M.B.) Doula Program
Doulas are trained professionals who provide non-clinical emotional, physical and informational support for birthing people, before, during and after labor and birth. During the prenatal period doulas share resources and information about the labor process, facilitate positive communication and promote the birthing person’s self-advocacy. During labor and birth doulas provide hands-on comfort measures to assist with pain management, troubleshooting with medical providers and support of your birth plan. Doulas also provide post-partum support to help with transitions into parenting, breastfeeding, postpartum medical cares and more!
Who is eligible to participate in this program? The program works with mothers at or before 30 weeks pregnant through birth and 12 weeks postpartum. This program primarily serves residents of the City of Milwaukee. The program is no cost and for any age.
Contact the City of Milwaukee Health Department's Central Intake and Referral line at (414) 286-8620
Office of Early Childhood Initiatives
The Welcome to Milwaukee program distributes care packages to the families of babies born at the St. Joseph Campus of Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital. The packages arm parents with information about early brain development, plus the resources they need to put it into practice. So every baby can start life poised to thrive.
*Families must give birth at St. Joseph’s Hospital to receive services from Welcome to Milwaukee.
