| It was almost a foreshadowing. Second Harvest Foodbank was holding the grand opening ceremony for the $1.25 million expansion of its facility to 46,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, enough capacity to house 900,000 pounds of donated food. Over 200 people had come for the ceremony and the seminar that Second Harvest was hosting afterwards. Several speakers, including Wisconsin's First Lady Jessica Doyle, had talked about the importance of Second Harvest in fighting hunger. Barbara McKinney rose to give the agency remarks for she now operates the Solomon Food Pantry out of S.S. Morris AME Church. At the end of her remarks, McKinney spoke of her son Mike who had founded Second Harvest's and NBC-15's Share Your Holidays program that has raised food for over 13 million meals since its inception one snowy day in 1996. Mike McKinney died in 2006 from colon cancer. "Mike was an ambassador for Second Harvest," Barbara recalled. "He talked it. He supported it. And he loved it. And so for me to do this is such an extreme honor. So I say again, you are simply amazing. And thank you. And as Mike would say in closing, on behalf of those whom you may never meet, 'I thank you. And until we meet again, take care of yourself.'" Little did McKinney suspect what was to transpire next. Robert Mohelnitzky, Second Harvest's executive director, took the floor and asked McKinney to remain at the podium. Mohelnitzky continued to talk about Mike's importance to Second Harvest. "When Mike died in 2006, it was a great loss," Mohelnitzky said. "Barbara lost a son and we all lost a friend. Mike meant a lot to all of us. We will never forget Mike and what he meant to us and the hunger-relief effort in our community. And to commemorate Mike's contribution, we make the following dedication: "Whereas Mike McKinney was a true friend to people who face food insecurity and hunger in our community; "And whereas Mike McKinney founded the NBC Share Your Holidays annual campaign one snowy winter night in 1996, a campaign which provided over 13 million meals to the people of Southern Wisconsin; "And whereas we wish to commemorate and celebrate all that Mike did for our community, do we hereby on this 18th day of October in the year 2007 dedicate our facility as the Mike McKinney Distribution Center." By the time Mohelnitzky was done, there was hardly a dry eye in the house. The sign that will hang at the entrance to the distribution center was unveiled. The spirit of Mike McKinney had filled the room. Afterwards, Barbara McKinney reflected on the dedication. The whole day was special for her because in addition to the Second Harvest dedication, McKinney had learned that someone had proposed that MMSD's new elementary school be named after Mike. Mike's strength and who he is -- I say is because to me he is still alive -- he came into his own in Madison," McKinney said. "For some strange reason -- and he had intended not to stay here --Mike McKinney and the community of Madison had a marriage that was just everlasting. And people still come up to me and say they met him; they heard of him and how genuine he was. They talk about how he impacted their lives makes him still live on. I believe in the proverb that 'As long as someone speaks your name, you are not forgotten.' That is an old African proverb. So as long as people are speaking Mike's name, he's not forgotten. Mike was modest. And he would always say 'It's not about me.' And he included all of the people that contributed. He had the bully pulpit. He was before the camera. But he realized it took a village to make things happen. There were some strong people around him. Some of the people's names will never be called. But on behalf of Mike, I thank the community." It was a special day for Mohelnitzky as well. Besides his marriage and the birth of his children, Mohelnitzky thought this was the most anticipated day of his life. While most non-profit buildings are named after the lead donor to the fundraising effort, Mohelnitzky wanted to honor Mike McKinney because of the contribution that McKinney has made to the agency. "Every 6-7 years, I have a good idea," Mohelnitzky said. "This was one of them. I'm very proud of this. The more I got to thinking about it, the more I thought rather than it be a warehouse, it's a distribution center. Who better could we name it after? The Mike McKinney Distribution Center made so much sense. I was able to work with Mike on five of the campaigns and got to know him pretty well. And I got to know Barbara because she stayed here in the community. Our biggest job was keeping it from Barbara until today. And I think we did that. She got weak in the knees. I couldn't wait to be the person who could pull that drape down off that sign and show it to Barbara." It was a thrill to not only Barbara, but to the entire food pantry network in southern Wisconsin. Mike's spirit lives on. |
| Second Harvest dedicates the Mike McKinney Distribution Center There's spirit in the house By Jonathan Gramling |
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| (Right) Barbara McKinney stands before the sign that will be placed at the front of the Mike Mckinney Distribution Center, which Second Harvest dedicated to Mike McKinney on Oct. 18 |