Janesville’s “Bags of Hope” back to delivering food for families in need

JANESVILLE, Wis. (WMTV) - The School District of Janesville is hosting a fundraiser to help feed families during the holidays. On Thursday, October 14, the district will hold a cooking demonstration with celebrity chef Ace Champion who is based out of Green Bay.

The event raises money for “Bags of Hope” – a program that helps feed 350 families and 50 seniors during the two-week holiday break.

“Bags of Hope is a School District of Janesville program that assists families during the winter break when students aren’t in school to get their lunches and breakfast,” said Denise Jensen, the coordinator of the program.

Jensen says for families that struggle to put food on the table, “Bags of Hope” means everything.

Volunteers smile as they work to help families in need around the holidays — Volunteers smile as they work to help families in need around the holidays(Denise Jensen)

“They are not used to having their student home for a two-week time period,” she said. “When we have students in school, we can give them breakfast and lunch, like we typically do, and families budget for that. So, when you have your entire family home for a full two-week time period, it really does impact their finances and especially impacts them during a financially hard time of year during the holiday season,”

Each year, hundreds of volunteers pack up and deliver two weeks’ worth of groceries. Last year, that wasn’t possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They mainly handed out gift cards instead. But now, the bag delivery is back!

“It’s a great feeling to be able to go back to that,” said Jensen. “It’s very heartwarming for a community to come together in a such a large project. I know that the volunteers get a lot out of it as well as the families that are receiving the donations.”

General admission tickets are on sale for the “Cook Like a Champion” for $40 right now on the school district’s website. VIP tickets are currently sold out.

Celebrity chef Ace Champion will be conducting a cooking demonstration at the Janesville Armory... — Celebrity chef Ace Champion will be conducting a cooking demonstration at the Janesville Armory building on Thursday night(Denise Jensen)

The event is from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Thursday, October 14 at the Janesville Armory on High Street.

There is also a silent auction featuring items like Milwaukee Bucks tickets and tickets to comedian Charlie Berens’ upcoming performances in Whitewater.

Chef Champion has been featured in the past on “The Today Show” and on “Fire Masters” on the Food Network.

NBC15′s “The Morning Show” anchor Tim Elliott is the master of ceremonies.

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