Friedens Food Pantries is now NourishMKE
Our community food centers nourish a beautiful variety of people...
As our roots go deeper together in these communities, our lives intertwine and we begin to belong and contribute to something much bigger than ourselves. The fruit of that belonging is food for the body and life for the soul.
NourishMKE is the largest network of community food centers in Milwaukee. We provide encouraging spaces to select and prepare free quality foods, and explore nutrition and wellbeing. The foods are thoughtfully sourced to offer options and reduce waste. We’re always looking for valuable ways to love our community, which is why we go out of our way to meet people where they’re at. When we join together, we are nourished and help each other grow.
Everyone can find the nourishment they need here.
Food for the Body
As a community, we’re always looking for new ways to remove barriers to food so that more people can be nourished.
Our community food centers provide access to a choice-based shopping experience and exposure to each part of the food life cycle—growing, preparing, consuming, and composting. In the same way that we nurture food from seed to table, we demonstrate our care and thoughtfulness to our guests by offering food demos to help them learn how to prepare ingredients that are new to them. When it is their turn to shop, our guests are paired with a volunteer who helps them pick items and carry bags. Everyone leaves with groceries for their family and new food knowledge.
Life for the Soul
There’s a reason the word ‘community’ comes first in the phrase ‘community food centers’. Everything starts with relationship.
Walk into one of our community food centers and you’ll experience warmth—fellowship and hospitality are central for the guest experience. Our goal is to model a different way of life by being a calm presence and offering our heart space to our neighbors. When we approach people with open acceptance and the opportunity to be both the giver and receiver, they discover it’s possible to develop real connections to others, self-compassion, a sense of significance, purpose, and belonging. All of this is food for the soul and it helps all of us to heal and be whole. Shoppers. Volunteers. Staff. Everyone.
Enough for Everyone.
Food and friendship can solve a lot of problems. In reality, there is enough of each to go around, but not everyone has access to those fundamental needs. That’s why we exist. We create places where people from all backgrounds can come together to find nourishment for their bodies and souls.
Good food is only the starting point for satisfying a human ache that goes well beyond physical hunger. On any given day at any NourishMKE location, you’ll find a beautiful and diverse collection of people who are doing their best to love each other well. That love shows up in shared food, encouraging words, and growing friendships that make life better in practical and intangible ways.
Over the years, one thing has become very clear. We all want to feel like we matter, like we have intrinsic value and purpose. That’s the ache we try to satisfy at NourishMKE. And it’s bigger than us. It’s bigger than food. That’s why we’re so thankful to be planted here together at the center of food, love, and community.
Find Food
We offer four convenient locations across Milwaukee. Learn how to access food.
Our citywide network of multiple community food centers gives us the advantage of being nimble and efficient with our resources, adapting to both abundance and challenges alike. Our network also allows us to reach across and through segregated lines, building relationships everywhere we go.
Empty Bowls: A Fundraiser
Empty Bowls is the annual fundraiser of NourishMKE. Each year, in partnership with local artists and restaurants, we sell 2,000 handmade bowls and delicious soup samples. All the proceeds support our network of food centers.