Brendan Schwaab
A line of people at aluminum trays of food under an awning.
Ahan and Banzo were two of the local restaurants serving those on the picket line in June.
There are few better ways to show you care than with a delicious meal.
Madison showed its support for nurses with an outpouring of food donations to aid May’s labor strike. Some Madison restaurants contributed meals at the strike line, with assistance from the grassroots organization Dane County Food Collective.
UnityPoint Health-Meriter nurses went on a planned five-day strike starting on May 27. Turnout was robust, with both nurses and community members coming out to rally behind nurses’ negotiations for a new contract. The strike ended with an agreement for a new contract.
SEIU Wisconsin, the union representing healthcare workers and property services workers throughout Wisconsin, organized logistical details, including a strike solidarity food pantry, where striking members who faced a financial burden from participation could pick up groceries.
The food pantry was open every day of the strike, stocked entirely by donations, and run by volunteers who were mostly SEIU Wisconsin retirees. All leftover food pantry items were donated to UAW 291 members striking at the Cummins factory in Oshkosh.
Union organizers also purchased water, coffee and snacks like bananas and granola bars to sustain nurses during their four-hour shifts on the strike line. However, providing full meals was above and beyond what union officials determined was financially responsible.
Brendan Schwaab, a nurse in Meriter’s mobile unit, saw that more food could be helpful at the strike line. They invited longtime friend Efrat Koppel to join them in driving around the city to solicit donations. Koppel, who works for REAP Food Group and belongs to Dane County Food Collective, suggested utilizing DCFC’s network of food service workers and restaurateurs instead.
Koppel contacted Noah Bloedorn, director of the collective, who confirmed the organization could help and that “if a restaurant was able to cook several hundred servings, but couldn’t do it for free, DCFC [could offer financial assistance].”
The response came together quickly. Pasture and Plenty rallied its own fundraising effort and provided 100 sandwiches. Banzo contributed 300 portions of hummus, veggies and pita. State Rep. Francesca Hong, who is also involved with Dane County Food Collective, helped to coordinate donations from Ahan, and was also seen serving food at the strike line. Madison’s Healthy Food for All was also ready to donate, but by then the nurses had enough food.
Restaurants were eager to help. Netalee Sheinman of Banzo says her team “strongly agreed with the nurses strike” and was already looking for ways to donate food when Dane County Food Collective reached out. “If protesting isn't an option, food is usually happily accepted and a popular way to support people fighting for the cause,” she tells Isthmus.
Sylvia Stangel, general manager of Pasture and Plenty, says that their team had no hesitation to back nurses, who she calls “the real MVPs of the medical system.” Stangel adds that Dane County Food Collective’s work provided an opportunity to contribute that the restaurant might not have found otherwise.
Dane County Food Collective started in 2022 in response to COVID’s impacts on the restaurant industry. The collective’s goals are broad, including “advocacy work, hunger work, [anything that is] related to food systems and responding to people’s immediate needs,” Bloedorn says. Meetings are the first Tuesday of every month, usually attracting 30-plus attendees.
REAP Food Group is Dane County Food Collective’s fiscal sponsor. During this year’s Big Share fundraiser, the two organizations raised more than $10,000 to strengthen the local food system. The collective was able to use money from this to contribute to the nurses’ strike.
Dane County Food Collective is still flying somewhat under the radar. “The nurses didn’t know about us, and I think a lot of people don’t know about us,” Koppel says.
Outside of the Dane County Food Collective effort, baked goods from Bloom Bake Shop, sweet tea and lemonade from Raising Cane’s, and pizza, bagels and doughnuts from a variety of sources were also donated.
The community support was especially meaningful to Schwaab and many others involved in the effort. “For almost all of us, it was our first strike in a work environment,” Schwaab says, adding, “The food was top tier.”
