Rotary Winter Wonderland Celebrates “Christmas in April”
Marshfield (OnFocus) Rotary Winter Wonderland is pleased to announce that $40,000 will be distributed to food pantries in Central and Northern Wisconsin. This donation is possible due to the generosity of our guests and sponsors during our 2019 season.
Despite the 14th season being almost a week shorter than usual, Rotary Winter Wonderland successfully reached its goals for cash and food donations.
Approximately 54,000 cans of food were collected both at the holiday lights display at Wildwood Zoo and from area businesses and organizations which undertook individual food drives, surpassing the seasonal goal of 50,000 items. Cash donations were not disclosed, but reached 120 percent of the goal.
Photo: Branden Bodendorfer
This season’s payment was moved forward by three months due to the immediate needs facing our food pantries. Due to the health crisis, many organizations are postponing their spring food drives. Meanwhile, the demand for food pantries is at record levels due to the economic hardships in our communities. Food pantries have exhausted their food inventories and are purchasing food with limited budgets.
Rotary Winter Wonderland is a community-wide holiday celebration, led by members of the Marshfield Noon and Marshfield Sunrise Clubs. Since it’s inception, the project has contributed 670,000, food donations and $330,000 of cash donations to a network of food pantries from as far north as Phillips to as far south as Port Edwards.
