LaCrosse W.H.E.A.T. partnership continues

LACROSSE – W.H.E.A.T. has joined with two veteran-founded organizations to help send packages to troops overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the circumstances, both monetary and product donations have declined and since W.H.E.A.T. is run by non-paid volunteers, any COVID-19 grant opportunities are not available for W.H.E.A.T.

The two organizations working with W.H.E.A.T. are The General's Hot Sauce and Warrior Rising.

The General's Hot Sauce is a veteran-owned company based in South Carolina.

Lana Myers, co-founder of W.H.E.A.T., said the partnership with The General's Hot Sauce came to be because of the pandemic. She said The General's Hot Sauce normally supplies the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., but with the school closed they were left with nearly 4,200 bottles of excess hot sauce.

The next challenge was getting the sauce from South Carolina to Whitman County.

W.H.E.A.T. then contacted Warrior Rising, a nationwide non-profit focused on supporting veteran entrepreneurs and veteran-owned businesses.

Warrior Rising is a 501(c)(3) that powers military veterans and their immediate family members by providing mentorship, guidance and support to create and sustain their own businesses. This support ranges from a direct mentor-to-mentee relationship from a host of highly qualified "cadre" of successful business and non-profit leaders, to establishing business plans and seeking funding support.

Warrior Rising now provides short and long-term guidance to W.H.E.A.T. as well as preparing the logistical and financial aspects of moving the hot sauce.

The hot sauce shipment weighed approximately 3,000 pounds.

Care packages are planned to contain the donated hot sauce, crackers, salami and oysters and sardines in pull-tab containers.

W.H.E.A.T. stands for We Honor Every American Troop. What began as a locally known organization is now a nationally recognized non-profit, with a platinum rating of transparency given by GuideStar.

Local collaborations to W.H.E.A.T. come from Endicott Food Center, Banner Bank, Bank of Eastern Washington/Oregon, Pioneer Telephone, Carter Foods, LaCrosse Food Bank and Rosauers in Colfax.