It’s difficult to know where to begin when we think about all the ways Tom has transformed our organization because the breadth and depth of knowledge that he brings is, quite frankly, immeasurable. After 14 years of leading us, Tom is retiring as our President.

Before he joined Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens, Tom was an agricultural teacher and agent for over two decades at Mauston High School, Waunakee Community High School, University of Wisconsin, and County Extension in Juneau County. He is extremely passionate about agriculture and educating individuals of all expertise levels.

In terms of how he became involved with MAFPG, Tom says, “I had gotten to know Emmett Schulte through the University and at church. On a cold winter day, he called me and asked if I wanted to grow vegetables. That would be interesting, I thought. Let me follow you around. So, I followed him around for a year. He put a lot of miles on that old truck of his.” Tom laughed, “After that year, I took over as the Garden Leader of Lacy Garden around 2008.” By 2009, Tom had become president of MAFPG, and he mostly deeply enjoyed spending time
with the volunteers.

​Tom explains, “I didn’t know I was going to be as involved with the volunteers. I thought I had signed up to grow vegetables.” Tom chuckled, “My favorite part is the kids coming out. I love making it an educational experience, teaching them about how food is grown.”

In the beginning of the garden’s history, Emmett Schulte was paying for the expenses out of his own account. Tom found an attorney to write the bylaws. With the new bylaws, the gardens were able to open a separate bank account and send in forms for Corporation Articles to become a nonprofit organization. With Tom’s vision and perseverance, this became the official beginning for Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens. Not only was Tom instrumental in forming the non-profit, but he is also passionate about bringing others on board. So was the case with now Vice President of MAFPG Larry Binning. Tom exclaimed, “I met Larry Binning at a Retiree Meeting for the University. He showed some interest, and you don’t have to tell me twice!”

Meeting Ken Witte and Emmett Schulte

In the early 1990s, Ken Witte began collecting donations from the weekly Dane County Farmers Market on the Square donating these items to families with need.  This was the origin of the organization that would later become Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens (MAFPG). MAFPG became official in 2000 when Ken recruited Emmett Schulte to be a garden leader on plots of land donated by landowners that could be used to grow vegetables for donation purposes. 

In 2001 Phil Cox and his wife Judy moved from their southeastern Michigan home to Dane County in Wisconsin to live closer to their daughter, son-in-law, and 1 yr. old granddaughter.  Phil first met Emmett at 8 am on a July 2002 day at the Lacy Garden and volunteered to harvest.  After one hour at Lacy the volunteers then drove to a garden on the Hershberger property to work for another hour before leaving to harvest at the Malmquist Garden.  This was the beginning of many days of garden volunteering for Phil.  Ken Witte continued to assist the MAFPG after he recruited Emmett Schulte by often purchasing items that could be used in the gardens or hauling produce to sites that could use or distribute the produce to persons in need.  

Garden Leader Years: 2009-2019 

After Emmett’s retirement in 2009, Phil became a garden leader at the Malmquist Garden for 2-3 years before moving to the Hershberger property and managing gardens on different sections of that property. This included garden areas east and south of the barn and garden acreage down the hill from the barn.  The garden area east and south of the barn was eventually named the Schulte Garden and the garden down the hill from the barn was named the Witte Garden to honor and remember the two people who created the MAFPG.  

The gardens Phil managed were productive due to an amazing group of volunteers.  The busiest year was probably 2016 when the Witte Garden had 62 volunteer work sessions scheduled for at least an hour and a half. Twelve volunteers worked at least 44 days, and one of them worked 60 out of 62 work sessions.  When Phil arrived at a garden at least 15-20 minutes before the announced “start time” it was not unusual for some of the “regulars” to already be working.  There were also days when some stayed after the volunteer session ending time to harvest items that would probably spoil if harvesting was delayed. 

“One year there were 195 days when I drove to a garden, attended a meeting to recruit volunteers or met with some others to develop a garden work schedule, delivered harvested produce, purchased a needed garden item, or attended some other garden-related event,” said Phil.

Some Hershberger volunteers also harvested produce in gardens in Dane or adjacent counties not directly affiliated with MAFPG,  A few were also responsible for much of the initial planting at the Forward Garden.

Phil’s Trucks

Phil purchased three pickup trucks for garden usage.  

“The first truck was relatively cheap and soon became disabled. It was sold to a junk yard,” Phil said. “The second truck had a long bed that could hold four 4 ft by 4 ft crates.  Unfortunately, it was totaled while hauling cabbage when a car directly in front of the truck suddenly stopped. The third truck was donated to the MAFPG in the last part of 2019 after I hauled 2,350 pounds of produce that was harvested north of Dane County and delivered to some Dane County locations.”

“The third truck also had very low mileage and a heavy-duty suspension system and was in very good condition for a truck 20 years old,” Phil continued. “At the end of the 2019 garden season I drove this truck from an adjacent county north of Dane County loaded with 2,350 pounds of produce back to Dane County with relative ease.”

The third truck is still in use today to distribute produce.

Recognition

Phil was recognized for his dedication to MAFPG by being awarded the 2019 Outstanding Volunteer Award from the United Way of Dane County.  We are indebted to him for his commitment to MAFPG of more than 20 years and his desire to get fresh vegetables to individuals in need.