MADISON, Wis. — A Madison woman has made it her mission to help feed the Hmong community in Dane County.

What You Need To Know

  • Mai Zong Vue is on the board of The Hmong Institute and has been helping feed the Hmong community in Dane County

  • Once a month, she leads a small team of volunteers organizing meal pickup

  • Meals focus on culturally appropriate foods, which is unlike "mainstream" food pantries

  • The meal boxes have raw meat and 50-pound bags of rice

Mai Zong Vue is on the board of The Hmong Institute. When the pandemic began, so did a new side project.

She organized a meal pickup program for clients of the Hmong Institute. It quickly grew and became her pandemic project. She said it kept her busy and gave her a purpose.

Once a month, she leads a small team of volunteers organizing meal pickup. This pickup is unique from other pantries in town. It provides culturally appropriate foods for the Hmong community.

“The existing [pantries] are doing great for the mainstream,” Vue said. “But for our population… they get canned cranberry, they don’t eat, they toss it out. They get bread, they don’t eat, they toss it out. They get cheese, they don’t eat, they toss it out.”

The meal boxes have raw meat and 50-pound bags of rice. Vue orders 1,500 dozen eggs to put into the distributions.

Because it’s catered to what they actually need, many families show up for pickup. They serve 400 families per month, and the line is so long, it ends up hitting the street.

Grant money from the Department of Administration is helping pay for the program and a few other things, including housing assistance and mental health help. But that money expires after 2024.

Vue is now trying to figure out how to help support these families after they no longer have the funding.

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