Green Bay, Wis. (WFRV) – William Wood’s path has taken him all over the world.

“Having the experience of being in Yellowstone and Wyoming, I was like, ‘There’s a whole lot of world out there,'” Wood recalled.

A college class on agriculture led William Wood out west.

Cattle ranching and working in Yellowstone National Park was the dream for a young Wood at the time, not college.

But soon, he found his way back home to Green Bay and back to school at St. Norbert College.

“I ended up taking an ROTC class, actually, and got pretty interested in it. Just kind of tallying, I think (I have) 15 cousins and aunts and uncles who have been in the military,” he said.

Commissioned into the Army and eventually settling into the reserves, Wood would end up making a 26-year career out of the military, with deployments to Iraq and Germany.

“It’s important because you get all of these experiences with not even just Americans, it’s different countries, different nations, different cultures. It’s pretty amazing,” Wood said.

And then Wood decided to combine all of those experiences into one: Managing an online farmer’s market called Farm Fresh Xpress, sourcing ingredients from local farmers and businesses all across Wisconsin.

“What we’re trying to do is put it out there, let people know that Wisconsin has the ability to sustain ourselves. Things do not have to come from all across the nation,” Wood said.

Wood is also the commander at the American Legion Post in Wrightstown. When Wood noticed the post needed a little help to stay up and running, he created a sort of symbiotic relationship between Farm Fresh Xpress and the American Legion.

“It’s a great synergy of Farm Fresh Xpress needing a place to store some of the pantry items, some of the cheeses, and things like that that we pick up from around the state, and FFX could grow and be awesome if we could just leapfrog across the state and help these American Legions because a lot of them have the coolers and freezers and things like that. Maybe we could keep a legion alive for a bit through rent,” Wood said.

Delivering farm-fresh Wisconsin-made products to Wisconsonites and keeping the mission of the American Legion alive, Wood knows there is still more work to be done.

And he welcomes it.

“I think a lot of people don’t know what’s always available for them, and sometimes they’re too afraid to ask. But having people know they can come in and find help and find resources that’s a big part of it. And keeping the connection,” said Wood.

To learn more about Farm Fresh Xpress, click here.