25 Days of Giving supports local families

Dodge County employees hosted a 25 Days of Giving campaign that resulted in Thanksgiving meals for 26 area families.
Employees collected food and cash and put it all toward “Thanksgiving in a Box,” said Lisa Kramer, finance director for Dodge County and a volunteer with Food for Friends, the entity that received the collections and distributed meals to families.
Food for Friends supplies food for in-need families throughout the school year, but for Thanksgiving concentrated on providing a holiday meal to those without one. The ‘Thanksgiving in a Box’ included a turkey, potatoes, a frozen pie, bread, vegetables, turkey gravy, butter, cranberry sauce and a box of stuffing.
Dodge County employees collected the food for Food for Friends throughout November and distributed the meal kits to families at St. John’s Church on Nov. 22.
“We were fortunate enough to have generous employees,” said Nichole Farnsworth, Dodge County payroll specialist. “We were able to provide dinners for 26 families.”
Kramer said the response was great.
“It was just overwhelming,” she said, “to get so much of our supplies from Dodge County’s 25 Days of Giving. Normally we get community donations but we end up having to purchase items. This year we purchased minimal supplies. The big things like turkeys were supplied by Dodge County employees through 25 Days of Giving.”
“We had such good participation across all departments,” Kramer said. “We were blown away by the generosity of Dodge County employees.”