A five-thousand dollar donation from the Tomah Memorial Foundation will help area residents obtain benefits from a food program aimed at ending hunger. Officials donated the money to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeastern Wisconsin’s Food Share program Thursday. Second Harvest CEO and President Dan Stein said the donation will be doubled by the US Department of Agriculture thereby providing more than $128,000 dollars in Food Share benefits. “We can see the impact of food and security and what happens to people’s health,” said Stein. “The other thing is, there’s coping strategies that people have to stretch their money that’s buying processed unhealthy foods, so fruits and vegetables are so important, and nutrition and wellness are so important to get people focused on their health.” Since last July, Second Harvest assisted with 177 Food Share applications in Monroe County, which generated nearly 300-thousand dollars in benefits for residents struggling with hunger to purchase food at local grocery stores. The Food Share benefits- formerly known as food stamps- account for 21% of total meals distributed annually in Second Harvest’s 16-county service territory. This year was the second consecutive year the hospital foundation has supported the program.