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Douglas County announced ARPA funds for restaurant assistance
Douglas County is putting aside $700,000 to help local restaurants impacted by the pandemic. The assistance program comes from commissioner James Cavanaugh’s allocation of the federal American Rescue Plan Act — ARPA funds. It will be given on a first-come, first-served basis to restaurants. They must have made less than $1.25 million in revenue in either 2019 or 2020 and lost money due to COVID-19. Commissioner Cavanaugh called small businesses “the backbone” of the economy. “They employ more people, they pay more taxes, and they provide more services than really any other sector of the economy, and particularly the restaurant segment of the small business community has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic because many of them simply had to close their doors for some period of time,” Cavanaugh said. Each restaurant will get a grant of up to $10,000. Restaurant owners can look at the qualifications through the online portal at lutz.us/rap, but applications can’t be submitted until Dec. 12.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Neb. —
… Read More Douglas County is putting aside $700,000 to help local restaurants impacted by the pandemic.
The assistance program comes from commissioner James Cavanaugh’s allocation of the federal American Rescue Plan Act — ARPA funds.
It will be given on a first-come, first-served basis to restaurants.
They must have made less than $1.25 million in revenue in either 2019 or 2020 and lost money due to COVID-19.
Commissioner Cavanaugh called small businesses “the backbone” of the economy.
“They employ more people, they pay more taxes, and they provide more services than really any other sector of the economy, and particularly the restaurant segment of the small business community has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic because many of them simply had to close their doors for some period of time,” Cavanaugh said.
Each restaurant will get a grant of up to $10,000.
Restaurant owners can look at the qualifications through the online portal at lutz.us/rap, but applications can’t be submitted until Dec. 12.
Inflation drives more Wisconsin college students to food pantries
A ribbon-cutting event for a former storage room marked a milestone for Milwaukee Area Technical College.
MATC converted the small space at its Walker’s Square campus into a food pantry that opened Tuesday. It’s the last of MATC’s five campuses to open a food pantry for students, all of which were launched within the last year.
The pantries couldn’t have come at a better time.
Soaring food costs have college students feeling the pinch. The need is especially great at Walker’s Square, which is on the near south side in the heart of Milwaukee’s Latino community. Many students at the campus are enrolled in the GED or English as a Second Language programs while working minimum wage jobs that don’t provide enough to cover rent, gas, groceries and other expenses.
Equan Burrows, MATC’s dean of student experience, said the college had previous iterations of food pantries, such as donated canned goods stocked in the corner of a room or breakfast bars slipped to hungry students.
But he said MATC’s partnership with Feeding America is more formalized and ensures the school’s long-term commitment to addressing food insecurity, a relatively widespread problem plaguing community colleges in which students don’t have the resources to feed themselves nutritiously, or even at all.
“This is groundbreaking,” Burrows said about the opening of pantries at every MATC campus. “And this is something we can sustain.”
The need for the food pantries at MATC is ‘higher than anticipated’
A survey conducted by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice illustrates the immense need for food pantries at MATC. Half of the school’s nearly 2,700 survey respondents reported experiencing food insecurity in the previous 30 days. That’s higher than the 39% of two-year students facing food issues nationally.
MATC opened the first food pantry at its downtown campus in November 2021. What started as a 500-pound weekly food order has grown to a 1,400 pound order — and that’s without accounting for the addition of the Walker’s Square campus.
At the downtown campus pantry alone, more than 1,200 visits have happened so far this semester, said Haley Weber, whose job as MATC’s coordinator of student services is to remove barriers students face to earning their degrees. In addition to non-perishable items for pickup, the main campus also offers about 200 hot meals per week made by culinary programs students using leftover food that would otherwise have gone to waste.
“The need has been even higher than anticipated,” she said. “Some students come every single day for lunch.”
The cost to the college is minimal, maybe $600 a month, Weber said. If Feeding America has a week in which donations are low, MATC buys food from the nonprofit at a reduced price.
The benefits of campus pantries are vast. Food insecurity is fundamentally a retention issue. Students without enough to eat are unlikely to be able to stay in school.
Among MATC’s pantry shoppers was Ivonne Ruiz, a full-time student in the English as a Second Language program. With food prices so high, she said she limits what she buys to the bare essentials. The campus pantry helps supplement her groceries.
Another shopper who visited a MATC pantry at least once a week was a mom who said she didn’t receive enough food stamps to feed herself and her three children.
Colleges and universities across Wisconsin seeing similar trends
Colleges across Wisconsin are hearing similar stories at their pantries: more visits and more students, which all of the schools attributed primarily to higher grocery prices.
At Madison Area Technical College, 464 student visits took place in the first three months of the fall 2021 semester, said student health educator Denise Holin. The same time period this fall brought 613 visits.
More than 1,000 Waukesha County Technical College students picked up bags from the school food pantry in 2019, said Stephanie McWilliams, the assistant director of student life. Since August, the school opened a second pantry location and has already handed out nearly 600 bags.
While food insecurity hits Black, first-generation and two-year college students are the hardest, four-year schools are also seeing stronger demand.
At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, basic needs coordinator Allie Dorshorst said the spring 2022 semester brought about 100 students to the pantry per week. This fall, UWM is seeing an average of 230 students weekly. Inflation was a factor in the uptick, though she also said the school expanded its hours.
UW-Green Bay recorded roughly 150 visits per month before the pandemic, said Stacie Christian, the assistant vice chancellor of inclusive excellence. That increased to about 250 visits last spring and the pantry this fall is approaching an average of 400 monthly visits.
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.
This is the First Meal Cameron Diaz Cooked for Benji Madden
published about 4 hours ago
Two of Charlie’s Angels found themselves taking on a new mission together this week, as actress Cameron Diaz joined bestie and talk show host, Drew Barrymore, on Wednesday’s episode of the latter’s eponymous daytime talk show. Channeling true “besties in the kitchen” energy, the pair gave us a peek at their relationship and revealed Diaz’s most coveted kitchen recipe — which happened to be the special addition to the first meal she made for her now-husband (and Good Charlotte guitarist /vocalist), Benji Madden.
The entire back and forth of giggling through Hollywood-normal memories took place while Diaz demonstrated her recipe for what she calls “Shallot Gold,” a dish which Barrymore noted was pretty much the only reason she and Diaz’s friends ever came over to visit. “She’s going to show us how to make literally something that none of us ever want to come over to the house without it being prepared,” Barrymore said.
But let you get your hopes up for some new recipe that will knock Alison Roman’s shallot pasta off its throne, shallot gold is quite literally just caramelized shallots. Sure, Diaz gives a few tips — like adding a bit of salt to your shallots as they cook down to drive off more of the allium’s water content and coax out the sugars — but at the end of the day, the true key to shallot gold is time.
As evidenced by Diaz reaching for a pan of previously caramelized shallots to put over the roast chicken that miraculously appeared on set (TV magic!), the only way to make shallot gold is to sit there and let those shallots cook down. Caramelization is a wonderful process that does not comply with the time constraints of a television cooking segment. At the end of the day, though, the true treasure in Diaz’s shallot gold might just be the chance to reminisce with a friend during the time it takes for those shallots to transform into caramelized perfection.
So what about that dish she made for her current husband on their first date? Lamb chops, of course. “Mediterranean lamb chops, some couscous, and some broccoli and sautéed zucchini,” Diaz told the audience after Barrymore urged her to reveal the meal. And in case you’re wondering, the shallot gold was mixed in with the couscous.
The entire segment, however, is one to watch, with the pair discussing everything from Gwyneth Paltrow’s disappointment in Barrymore’s previous home’s oven to dual diving experiences — both sky and scuba, the latter of which took place in Tahiti with curious sharks. Much in the vein of other celebrity friends cooking together for television (think: Ina and Faith Hill), the two icons give viewers a show to remember with personal touches that will make anyone feel at home.