Historic flooding; Milwaukee nonprofit sees major food, equipment damage

Nonprofit faces food loss after flooding

After historic flooding, thousands of pounds of food meant for families in need were spoiled at a nonprofit organization's Milwaukee warehouse.

MILWAUKEE - Thousands of pounds of food meant for families in need were spoiled by last weekend’s floods.

What we know:

After the historic flooding, Ebenezer Stone Ministries had to close and stop services when its Milwaukee warehouse, Ebenezer East, flooded.

Board President Heyden Penkert said there were six to eight inches of water inside.

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"It’s going to be a long road," Penkert said. "Palettes and palettes of food were sitting underwater and damaged."

Nearly 30 palettes of food had to be thrown away, including items in the walk-in freezer and fridge. That amounts to roughly $20,000 worth of food lost — plus damage to equipment, such as forklifts.

"We could be looking at over $100,000 in damage if those are not repairable at this point," Penkert said.

Dig deeper:

Ebenezer Stone Ministries partners with Feeding America. The warehouse redistributes food to 42 food pantries that serve thousands of people.

"They can’t eat. They can’t go to the grocery store and just buy things. That’s why they come to us," Penkert said. "And we don’t even have that to support them."

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The freezer, typically full, now stands empty after floodwaters swamped parts of Milwaukee. The nonprofit says it could take a week or two before operations return to even 30%.

"At the end of the day, we are a community and watching everybody step up and coming to help as much as possible was just… it blew us away," Penkert said.

What you can do:

The organization is asking for monetary donations and canned goods to help recovery efforts.

For more information, visit Ebenezer Stone Ministries' website.