About 79 kids will get to spend the day shopping, wrapping with officers

Area families who may not have the finances for Christmas gifts will get to share in the season through a program organized by area police officers.

Dane County area police departments will pair officers with kids for the annual “Shop with a Cop” program on Sunday.

Each year, children from families in need are chosen to participate in the event. Each child receives $150 -- collected through private and corporate donations -- to buy gifts for his or her family. The shopping spree will take place at the East Side Target, organizers said.

Detective Kathy Wessel with the Dane County Sheriff’s Office said about 79 kids are participating in the event Sunday. She said the little shoppers enjoy taking part in the giving season.

“They get a kick out of shopping for their families and picking out presents for brothers, sisters, mom and dad,” Wessel said.

Mayor says idea stemmed from summer ‘Meet and Eat’

A food truck experiment this summer lead to the mayor establishing a council this fall to continue work bringing affordable healthy food options for low-income families.

At the first meeting of his Madison Food Policy Council on Oct. 24, National Food Day, Mayor Paul Soglin made the opening statements explaining its importance.

“In terms of the farmers’ market, we have one of the best known markets in the world,” Soglin said. “When it comes to food policy, there is this enormous gap. I see that as an opportunity to take us to another level.”

The MFPC is an extension of the Dane County board. It joins the Dane County Food Council and Coalition, but aims more to answer the question of accessibility and affordability than connecting producers to buyers, which is the focus of the county’s council and coalition.

MADISON, Wis. - A rich smell of roasting nuts wafts through the air as small business owner Nicole Drives busily prepares for the holiday season.

Drives, now 23, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2011 with a dietetics degree. While coping with uncertainty about what to do next, she went nuts. Literally.

“My grandma has been making a spiced nut confection for over 40 years now, and the past 10 years or so our family has been telling her she should start a business since everyone loves them so much,” Drives said.

Drives acted on the family’s idea and turned years spent in her grandmother’s kitchen into the foundation of a nut business. And in the process she noticed the lack of a commercial community kitchen in Madison for entrepreneurs like herself -- a void that may soon be filled.