What brightens even the coldest Milwaukee winter day? The sight of Gianni Vaccaro rolling up on her bicycle, trailer in tow.
It might look like a typical Door Dash bike delivery, but there’s nothing typical about Vaccaro. She is the founder and head biker in charge of Sauce Milwaukee, a nonprofit with a mission to tackle our city’s food scarcity issue, one porch drop-off at a time.
At least twice a week, Vaccaro cooks a hot meal for 30 to 80 people in the kitchen of her Riverwest apartment. After carefully packing the meals, Vaccaro hits the pavement, armed with a backpack, an iPad and a list of families awaiting her appearance.
It all started two years ago, when, after witnessing the effects of food scarcity, Vaccaro felt compelled to try to provide healthy meals to Milwaukee families.
“When I worked at Siefert Elementary, I found out a lot of children only ate at school. They ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at school, but a lot of kids weren’t eating at home. This was crazy to me,” Vaccaro said.
When a friend and fellow cyclist took Vaccaro Dumpster diving behind a grocery store, she was shocked.
“I was floored by how much food was in there. All this produce was being thrown out, and I wondered if I could get it before it went into the Dumpster,” she explained. “So I looked into how I could legally get this food and redistribute it. Good food shouldn’t go in the garbage while people starve.”
Grocery stores and restaurants can’t legally give away food; Vaccaro didn’t see that as an obstacle, just a first step.
“I sprouted the idea of Sauce and reached out to Sendik’s and Outpost and asked if they could give food to me if I had nonprofit status. And they said ‘yes,’” Vaccaro said.
In August 2021, the idea of Sauce began to take root.
“I did some Google searches, applied for nonprofit status immediately and created articles of incorporation. I got approved right away,” she said.
Vaccaro also had to pass a food safety inspection. “I got a permit to cook in my house. We had to pass a state health code and food handler inspection,” she added.
With a full-time role as social emotional development coordinator at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Milwaukee, Vaccaro balances her day job with a full course load at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She expects to graduate next fall with a degree in health and nutritional sciences.
Sauce deliveries are subject to Vaccaro’s availability and the arrival of produce from a variety of sources.
“There’s a free food bank at Second and Clarke (streets), and if they have extra produce, they will hit me up and donate it,” she said, referring to All Peoples Church.
“When somebody drops off produce, I prep everything that night, cook it up in the morning and take it right out on a delivery,” Vaccaro explained.
She takes advantage of her ties to the Milwaukee restaurant scene.
“I’ve worked in restaurants my whole life, so I get invited to cook in commercial kitchens. Chefs will make space for me when they have time,” she said.
Restaurants like Café Corazon and Dead Bird Brewery also donated a surplus of to-go containers.
What does Vaccaro typically cook?
“It’s all plant-based. My objective is to fill people with something delicious and also not bad for them. I worked in a lot of vegan restaurants, and I’ve eaten plant-based for about 10 years,” Vaccaro said.
While there has been resistance to try meatless meals, nothing wins over skeptics faster than great tasting food.
“Everyone wants to know what kind of food I have. I’ll put on gloves and open the box for them and they’ll usually say, ‘oh, this looks good,’” Vaccaro said. “People ask me about vegan meats, like soy curls. Everyone’s skeptical, but all it takes is one person trying it and saying, ‘wow, this is great.’”
Rolling up on her bike is intentional.
“A bicycle makes me approachable and it also promotes health. Everything about what we’re doing is to promote health,” Vaccaro said.
On a recent food run, Vaccaro stopped by Anna Lamer’s house. Lamer works as the office manager and runs a free food bank at All Peoples Church.
“I love Gianni. Seeing her bike with food coming into the neighborhood is the highlight of my day. We mostly eat traditional food, so we get to try new things that Gianni’s created,” Lamer said. “It hasn’t been bad yet.”
Lamer’s daughter, Amber Davis, agreed. “It’s the highlight of our day. We get so excited to see Gianni,” Davis said.
Vaccaro grew up in a big Italian family where food was a love language and her dad did all the cooking.
“My father, Andre, taught me you always share your food with anybody, no matter who it is,” Vaccaro recalled. “I named the organization Sauce because to me sauce is the best part of all food. In the beginning I would get a lot of free tomatoes, and the first donations I got were all pasta.”
Vaccaro is working on fundraising and grant-writing and hoping to ultimately get Sauce out of her kitchen.
“We know we want to be on the northwest side of Milwaukee. We’re looking at places that already have kitchens,” Vaccaro said. “I’ll finish school in 2023 and we’re writing all the grants this year. So 2024 is hopefully when we will be settled down in a building.”
A point of pride for Vaccaro is that no one wanting a meal needs to demonstrate need.
“I don’t care what somebody has or doesn’t have or what happened to them before this or after this,” she said. “I spoke at Whitefish Bay High School and the kids asked me how I tell that somebody needs food. And I answered, ‘because they’re alive.’ Everybody deserves to eat good food.”
To support this effort and donate to Sauce Milwaukee, or to sign up for meal delivery, visit the Sauce website www.saucemilwaukee.org.