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November/December 2007 - Vol. 2, Issue 2 |
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 27,200 Number of families that will receive a Holiday Meal Box this year |
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NIFB PREPARES FOR LARGEST HOLIDAY
MEAL EVER:
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Sponsor a Holiday Meal Box Today: Bring Hope to a Local Family
NIFB's Holiday Meal Box Program is generously sponsored in part by the Sara Lee Foundation. Support from the following Holiday Meal Box Partners also makes this year’s program possible: CROSSMARK, Jewel-Osco, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, George Weston Bakeries Inc., and The J.M. Smucker Company. To learn more, click here.
Call the NIFB location nearest you to get involved! |
With the holiday season just weeks away, people everywhere will begin making plans to gather with their families and enjoy a traditional holiday meal. Unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands of people who live in poverty in northern Illinois, partaking in a holiday feast seems like a distant dream. Northern Illinois Food Bank is determined to make this dream a reality for over 27,200 families this holiday season by distributing Holiday Meal Boxes to each of them.
Preparing
meals for potentially 216,000 people can be quite a challenge but
volunteers from all sectors of the community have been more than
willing to help. Keith Nielsen, president of Jewel-Osco and
NIFB Board Member, said, "Right
now, hunger is a reality for many people living in this society. We
are stepping up our
efforts to help meet the need during |
Food Rescue & Recovery is Tops:
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ShareFest
Collects Thousands:
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Providing a holiday meal to more than
216,000 people is a community effort. Every $25 donated sponsors a
box that provides a nutritious, traditional holiday meal for eight.
PLUS, holiday meal boxes provide hope to these hungry neighbors.
Individuals, companies, churches, and community groups are
encouraged to donate to the program by sending contributions of any
amount to Northern Illinois Food Bank, 600 Industrial Drive, St.
Charles, IL 60174 or
Our hungry neighbors will be feeling the pinch
in their wallets more than ever this year with fuel prices
increasing daily and heating bills starting up again. NIFB
believes that no matter what the circumstances may be, everybody
should be able to enjoy the holidays. The Holiday Meal Box
provides a 12-14 pound turkey with stuffing, vegetables, mashed
potatoes, coffee, and dessert for a family of eight. The
Holiday Meal Boxes do more than just provide food for a family; they
also provide hope when it is needed most.
Over
the last seven years, Northern Illinois Food Bank has grown its Food
Rescue & Recovery Program from 23,374 pounds saved in the first year
to nearly 2.5 million pounds saved last year. Because of the
astounding growth in this innovative program, NIFB was honored by
America's Second Harvest with the Food Sourcing Model Program of the
Year award at this year's National Conference. 
and
collect more food for hungry people in our communities," said Dennis
Smith, Executive Director of NIFB. America's Second Harvest was
so impressed with the Food Rescue & Recovery Program that it produced
an instructional video so that other food banks could follow the NIFB
model. Added Smith, "This is a program that can be adopted by
every food bank around the country, and the dividends are too high to
pass up. Hungry people count on us to get more food to them and
this program does just that."
The food drive first started four
years ago but this is the first time it covered the entire county.
Volunteers swept through the community dropping off 20,000 bags for
households to fill up and an additional 26,000 Jewel-Osco plastic
bags were inserted in the Daily Herald, a ShareFest co-sponsor.
While organizers are thrilled with the success of the food drive,
they know more needs to be done to help their 49,000 neighbors
living in poverty and they are dedicated to help them. Thank you to
Catalyst and all of the volunteers and
sponsors who made this such a successful event.
Thank you to
Woodland Academy in Lake Forest for returning for the 2nd
year for their Day of Service. The school sends its students
out for a day of service across Lake County. This year the students
who came to the Lake County Branch processed over 10,000 pounds of meat.
Plus, 366 boxes of finished meat for agencies and 880 pounds of
large cuts for soup kitchens became available due to their work. We
look forward to seeing them again next year!