MADISON, Wis. — A woman has turned her passion for feeding her community into a nonprofit that’s helped hundreds of people. 

Families Back to the Table is Lisa Burrell’s dream. 

“When they walk in the door, welcome them and show them love,” Burrell said.

On one Wednesday afternoon, she knew each person who came in by name. 

It all began in her kitchen. 

“Families Back to the Table started basically in my house,” she said. “I were just helping families in my house, sharing food.” 

After five or six years of that, it was taking a financial toll. She decided she needed to start a nonprofit to feed everyone. 

Now, she has a building on Zeier Road, right in the East Towne Mall complex. The organization got more than $700,000 in funding from Dane County. 

The new location feels more like a community center than a food pantry. It has a beautiful sitting area, computer station and kids’ area. 

“When they walk in here, they don’t walk in here thinking ‘okay, I’m needy, I’m coming to a food pantry,’” Burrell said. “When they walk in here, they look around, [think] well, wait a minute, we can sit, we can relax.” 

She saw a big enough need in her community that her own family kept growing. 

“I have six children of my own, and I adopted 9,” Burrell said. “My six children are grown now. I have one more adopted child in the house and he’s 16 years old… they bring life, give you energy, keep you young.” 

Her goal is to make everyone who walks in feel like family. 

“As a single parent, I shopped the food pantries,” Burrell said. “When I walked into a food pantry, it was normally just go get your food and leave… this place is very different.” 

Families Back to the Table feeds about 100 people every week. Burrell said she believes it’s her calling to help others get by, because she knows how it feels to need that extra support. 

“I like to see the smile on people’s faces,” she said. “That brings me joy.”