In order to raise the nearly $14 million to complete the capital campaign, it will require the participation of everyone in our communities.  Two vital partners of the Food Bank have joined the capital campaign and are using challenge grants to get more involved.

Jewel-Osco has made a challenge to food industry vendors to get them involved.  Jewel-Osco will match every donation from companies in the food industry dollar for dollar up to $400,000!  This will raise a total of $800,000!  "Jewel-Osco and the food industry have been strong partners with the Food Bank for years," said Keith Nielsen, president of Jewel-Osco. "This challenge is a way for us to work together again in fighting hunger now and for many years to come."

Thing 1-2-3 Foundation is taking the concept of the challenge grant and is focusing it on the Elmhurst community.  The foundation will match $0.50 on the dollar up to $300,000 for every donation made from Elmhurst; this includes residents, businesses, schools, and any civic groups!  "Nancy (Ruprecht) and I recognize that Northern Illinois Food Bank has become one of Illinois' most effective resources against hunger in the past 25 years," said Jim Ruprecht, president of Thing 1-2-3 and an Elmhurst resident. "We want to make a difference helping the food bank as it now faces a huge challenge."

Click here to contribute to the capital campaign!

When the Food Bank first started over 26 years ago, it operated out of a small facility in Carol Stream, and in its first full year of operation, distributed over 64,000 pounds of food.  In 1995, NIFB moved into its current 147,000 square/foot facility in St. Charles and distributed over 5 million pounds that year.  This year, the Food Bank projects distribution to be about 26 million pounds of food!  This remarkable growth helped more and more hungry people each year, but unfortunately could not help everyone.  Instead of helping some of these people, some of the time, the Food Bank strives to help all of them, all of the time.

In order to truly be meeting the needs of the nearly 270,000 people living in poverty in the Food Bank's 13 county service area, NIFB needs to be distributing at least 40 million pounds of food.  Even more alarming is that, if current trends persist, the number of people in poverty could grow to over 400,000 by 2015.  "The current facility lacks the necessary capacity to accommodate this level of distribution," said Dennis Smith, Executive Director & CEO of NIFB, "and too many resources are being wasted in the outdated, inefficient warehouse."  These factors taken all together made it abundantly clear to the Board of Directors that a plan for the future had to be enacted.

Click here to view the capital campaign video and read the project's case statement.

On April 4, 2009, Northern Illinois Food Bank will hosted its Tenth Annual Donor Appreciation Dinner generously presented by Jewel-Osco.  More than 500 guests came together to recognize the Food Bank's honorees including Tellabs with the Horizon Award, Beringer Vineyards as New Donor of the Year, Panera Bread into the Donor Hall of Fame, and the Chicago Tribune & McCormick Foundation as the Donors of the Year.

Guests enjoyed an evening of dinner, dancing, and auctions to help raise funds for the Food Bank's programs.  In the end, attendees helped raise more than $240,000 in just one evening!  Thank you to the 26 companies who sponsored the event, including the Benefactor Sponsor, Jewel-Osco, and the Platinum Sponsors, Dominick's and the Chicago Tribune/McCormick Foundation.  A special thank you goes to Denis Savard, Blackhawk's  Hall of Fame legend, and Congressman Bill Foster, 14th District, for coming out to show their support in the fight against hunger.  Click here to learn more about the event!

On April 23rd, Northern Illinois Food Bank was presented the Community Service Award from the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and the Illinois Association of Park Districts with the Rockford Park District.  The Food Bank's youth nutrition programs are critical to feeding children in the Rockford Park District's after-school programs.  Each day, 200 kids in the Rockford Park District programs receive these nutritious meals!

Senior Home Sharing in Wheaton presented its annual Merritt Grimm Award to the Food Bank on May 7th.  Named after one of the founding board members, the Merritt Grimm Award recognizes those who advocate on behalf of seniors in the community.  Thank you, Senior Home Sharing, for all that you do and for this wonderful recognition!

Northern Illinois Food Bank is honored by these recognitions!