SHEBOYGAN – More than 1.5 tons of food.
That’s how much was collected and donated to the Sheboygan County Food Bank by the Lakeland University men’s wrestling team after an inaugural Headlocking Hunger drive.
The drive culminated during a Jan. 31 wrestling meet. Lakeland athletic teams had been encouraged to collect food in a competition to claim the Headlocking Hunger championship belt. The women’s soccer team claimed the inaugural belt while softball placed second, women’s basketball third and numerous other programs participated, the university said in a news release.
Lakeland men’s wrestling delivered 3,492 pounds of food to the Sheboygan County Food Bank after the event.
Headlocking Hunger was created by Lakeland Head Men’s Wrestling Coach Mike DeRoehn, who initially introduced the event when he served as wrestling coach at UW-Platteville. His wife, Nicole, overheard a conversation between two brothers on a school bus ride home and learned the boys typically only ate when they were at school because of a lack of food in their home.
“It feels good to make a positive impact on our community,” DeRoehn said in the news release. “While we are trying to win wrestling matches, we’re also giving our Muskies opportunities to grow as people and learn how important it is to help others. We are grateful to everyone who helped us make this contribution.”
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Lakeland employees and other fans were encouraged to take two non-perishable food items for admission into the dual meet against Aurora Jan. 31. They chose which team they wanted to receive credit for the items being donated.
The food bank said it is tracking an increasing average of nearly 6,000 family visits each month at partner food pantries and other organizations they work with. More guests are visiting the food bank’s Community Café, where nearly 1,500 warm meals are served each month.
Lizabeth Kroll, the food bank’s senior director of program and community impact, said in the release, “While the number of families we serve in all our programs, pantries and other agencies continues to increase, the rise in food prices also causes us to spend a big portion of our annual budget on food purchases.”
For more about the food bank and ways to give, visit sheboygancountyfoodbank.com.
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Contact Brandon Reid at breid@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Lakeland U wrestling’s Headlocking Hunger benefits Sheboygan food bank
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