FOOD PANTRY

Our food pantry serves anyone residing in Dane County who requires food assistance.

You may visit the food pantry twice each month. Your 2nd visit may be any time during the month. If you run short between visits, you may shop our lobby during food pantry shopping hours.

On your first visit to BPNN, we will register your household. To register, you will need to bring ID for each household member and proof of address in Dane County. (Please see the section “What you Need to Know” to make sure you have what you need.)

A volunteer will review your documents and, if ok, you will receive a BPNN household card. On all future visits, bring this card and an ID for yourself.

Doors open 15-30 minutes before the pantry opens for shopping. Numbered tickets are issued and you enter the store in this order. To keep things moving for all shoppers, we ask that just one adult enter the store and that you turn off your cell phones.

Inside the pantry, you shop independently in our grocery-style store. Volunteers are available to get you started and answer questions. Sometimes we have limits on the number of certain items you may take. We ask that you honor these limits so that everyone can benefit from hard-to-obtain items.

When finished, your groceries are weighed and recorded for our inventory system.

Once you are registered after your initial visit, you will receive a BPNN Household card with a “verified” sticker on the back of the card. Do not remove the sticker and always bring this card with you along with an ID for yourself. Shoppers that bring these items can use our Express ticketing line, saving you time.

We carry a wide variety of healthy fresh and frozen produce, dairy, and proteins including milk, eggs, and meat. With the help of Second Harvest Food Bank, Community Action Coalition, community food drives, and cash donations we can offer packaged goods including baking supplies, cereal, pasta, canned tuna, fruits, vegetables, and soups. Our Kitchen-to-Table food recovery program provides the pantry with items donated from local businesses that operate employee cafeterias. These items are repackaged in microwavable containers for grab-and-go meals.

To avoid overcrowding in the pantry, please shop alone whenever possible. We limit shopping to one adult per household. If you can leave your children safely at home with another adult, that will speed up the shopping process for you and other shoppers.

An authorized proxy shopper is someone who does not live with you that is authorized to shop on your behalf when you are unable to come to BPNN yourself. You must be registered at BPNN before someone can shop for you and a Authorized Shopper Request Form must be completed. Read the fact sheet.

If you run short of food between pantry visits, our lobby has excess food that is available to anyone. You can shop without registering and as often as you want. Selections vary from day to day but can include "Grab and Go" meals, fresh produce, frozen soups, yogurt, bread & rolls, snacks, and sweets. Come to the Exit Lobby of the Food Pantry during our posted shopping hours.

Please do not try to access the lobby before we start pantry shopping (10AM on most days and 6PM on Wednesday evenings). Volunteers need to access the lobby to stock it and it is a small space.

If we are closed and you are having a food emergency, you can call 2-1-1 to locate other services.

1200 E. Verona Ave, Verona, WI 53593

A Dane County Joining Forces for Families (JFF) social worker is available to help connect individuals with other assistance programs. Please call us if you are interested in contacting a representative from JFF.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services recently announced changes to The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) eligibility requirements that will go into effect on October 1, 2024. It includes eliminating ID and address documentation and removing service area restrictions. These changes are only applicable to accessing TEFAP commodities. Pantries may implement different eligibility requirements such as a limited-service area for items that are sourced outside of the TEFAP program.

While 93% of BPNN's guests are eligible for TEFAP, these commodities are only 7% of BPNN’s total food inventory. We are in the process of determining how we will adapt our registration and food distribution procedures to meet both the goals of equal and easy access to TEFAP commodities and ensure that donated and purchased food are made available to guests who meet our registration criteria and live within Dane County.