One box, one can, feed Racine.

That's the slogan several churches in Racine County have adopted in recent weeks as their congregations take on a new effort to help stock the shelves of area emergency food pantries. Every Sunday, members of these congregations are asked to each bring one non-perishable food item to church. Those items are then collected and delivered to one of the emergency food network pantries, which are affiliates of the Racine County Food Bank.

The idea is that while each person's effort may be small, when everyone works together the benefits can be great.

"When you consider there might be a couple hundred people at each church service, if everyone brings one item, the food pantry has 200 items it didn't have before," said Kristi Mueller, a member of Holy Communion Lutheran Church who coordinates the food collection at Holy Communion's Northwestern campus, 5040 Northwestern Ave. (formerly Good Shepherd Lutheran Church).

The seed for the one box/one can movement was first planted several months ago by the Rev. Sharon Georgie, who was filling in as pastor at Holy Communion's Northwestern campus at the time. With the need increasing at area food pantries due to the country's economic crisis and rising unemployment, Georgie's idea seemed like a good way to help the pantries continue to serve the community, Mueller said.

"She brought up the idea and it just caught on."

While each person is asked to bring only one item, some bring more, Mueller said.

"We started out with one can, one box, and now we bring as much as we can. Our congregation is small in numbers, but we are large in outreach. We are blessed, so we reach out."

Spreading the news

When Mueller shared her congregation's successes in collecting food with members of a church-related class she was taking, some of them then took the idea back to their congregations and have implemented it there.

"They took it and ran with it," said Mueller, adding that so far, Atonement Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and Emmaus Lutheran Church are on board, and she is hoping that more will join the effort.

"We hope to get the whole City of Racine involved," she said.

Joannie Williams, parish nurse at Atonement Lutheran Church, said the response within her congregation has been amazing.

"It took off like wildfire," Williams said. "I put out a call for volunteers to help organize the effort at our church and within a few days I had about 18 people who wanted to be part of the team."

And it isn't just the adults who are involved, she said. Young children at Atonement collect the donated food items from parishioners during each worship service, using special collection bags created by the church's quilting group. And one of the congregation's teenagers, Katie Schneider, has challenged the church to collect 5,000 pounds of food in two months. If they do so, Schneider says she will dye her hair purple.

"Our youth are fired up about this," Williams said.

Many hands

All of the food collected at Atonement Church is donated to the food pantry at Holy Communion Lutheran Church, 2000 W. Sixth St., which is the most utilized food pantry in the area, Williams said. It is one of 19 food pantries throughout Racine County listed on the Racine County Food Bank's Web site (http://www.racinecountyfoodbank.org), most of which operate out of area churches.

Sharon Wilczynski, coordinator of Holy Communion's food pantry, said that in her 13 years working at the pantry she has never seen the need as great as it is now. "Last year, we had a really big year and we are seeing our numbers continue to rise," Wilczynski said.

In 2008, the Holy Communion food pantry received 3,428 referrals (those who utilize the pantry must prove eligibility and be referred; go to http://www.racinecountyfoodbank.org/affiliates.htm for details) and served 9,699 individuals, according to Wilczynski. In 2007, the referrals numbered 2,658, with 7,441 individuals served.

"That's a 29 percent increase in referrals and a 25 percent increase in individuals served," she said.

While the pantry gets some of its food supply from the Racine County Food Bank and the government, donations of both food and money from its host church and other congregations are also essential to its operation, Wilczynski said.

"Our sister churches, as well as other organizations such as the Boy Scouts and some schools, have helped us out a lot this year," she said.

And the one box/one can effort has definitely made a difference, Wilczynski said.

"This is important, especially now with so many families in need."