ONEIDA (NBC 26) — Fifty non-profit groups have been selected to benefit from this year's Give BIG Green Bay 24-hour day of giving.
Ukwakhwa (Our Foods) is a newer non-profit group in the area, and organizers say they're excited to be selected for the very first time.
"It was really exciting, and it was really validating that the work we're doing here is important," said Ukwakhwa Executive Director, Becky Webster.
"Even at the reveal when we were mentioned it was like, "Wow. These are some amazing non-profits, and we get to be here with these folks, and they're doing all this awesome work." So, it was pretty awesome," said Ukwakhwa Farm Operations Manager, Steve Webster.
Becky and Steve Webster of Oneida started Ukwakhwa four years ago to help the community learn more about indigenous foods through planting, growing, harvesting, seed keeping and so much more.
"We hope to have more programming for our community. We have a lot of classes that we offer, and we're offering more and more classes," Becky said.
Becky Webster said contributions from next week's fundraiser will help them reach more people.
"So, we really want that to be a resource for our community to be able to use that year-round, because right now, most of our activities happen in the summer," Webster added.
Steve Webster says they'd like to build a dedicated facility next to their existing operation in Oneida to help more people.
"I think the next step is to actually start cooking, and feeding and providing hot meals to the community. So, that's going to kind of be the direction that we go with next," Steve Webster said.
As a reminder, Give BIG Green Bay kicks off next week, and Ukwakhwa is one of 16 non-profit groups benefiting for the first time.
