The event kicked off on ABC 7's Morning News on Wednesday, October
30 and runs until December 28, 2013. The food drive effort last year was extremely
successful in providing meals for hungry men, women and children throughout the
Chicago area.
This year, ABC 7 and Dominick's are asking Chicagoans to join in the fight to diminish hunger in our community by filling bins at local Dominick's with non-perishable items.
860,670 people ...1 in 6... are in need of food assistance in Cook County. In the past five years, the number of visits to pantries has increased by 70 percent. In the past five years, the number of visits to pantries has increased by 70 percent. In northern Illinois, 1 in 5 kids face hunger. Last year more than 42 million meals were provided to hungry neighbors in the northern Illinois area -- a 27 percent increase from 2012.
ABC 7 News This Morning kicked off the Spirit of Giving Food Drive on
Wednesday, October 30. Lauri Sanders, director of public affairs and government
relations, Dominick's; Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO, Greater Chicago
Food Depository; and Pete Schaefer, president and CEO, Northern Illinois Food
Bank, were on the morning newscast to talk about how hunger is still
on the rise in Chicago and the suburbs and the fact that people from all
different backgrounds are relying on food from food drives like this one.
This year, ABC 7 and Dominick's are asking Chicagoans to join in the fight to diminish hunger in our community by choosing one of the following ways to give:
- Fill it: Fill the bins at your local Dominick's with non-perishable items.
- Buy it: Buy a bag of groceries for $10 at any Dominick's store to feed a family of four.
- Click it: Donate in the Greater Chicago Food Depository online Virtual Food Drive CLICK HERE
- Click it: Donate to the Northern Illinois Food Bank CLICK HERE
As part of this yearly effort, ABC 7 meteorologist Tracy Butler and anchor Hosea Sanders will help focus attention on the critical need to fight hunger, with live reports and weathercasts from various Chicago locations Tuesday, December 3rd. They'll be joined by ABC7's Judy Hsu and Mike Caplan as well as Windy City LIVE's Ryan Chiaverini.
The ABC 7 team will be broadcasting LIVE from the following locations on December 3rd:
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK
273 Dearborn Court
Geneva, IL 60134
5:00 AM until 6:30 PM
LITTLE BLACK PEARL ART AND DESIGN CENTER
1060 E. 47th Street Chicago, IL 60653
5:00 AM until 6:30 PM
NEW TRIER TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL
WINNETKA CAMPUS
385 Winnetka Ave.
Winnetka, IL 60093
6:00 AM until 5:30 PM
Additionally, Butler and Sanders will appear in public service announcements supporting the food drive. Butler has helped to spearhead the public service campaign for the Food Drive since 1999.
During this effort to fight hunger in the Chicago area, individuals can drop off non-perishable food items at any local Dominick's location or can make a donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository www.chicagosfoodbank.org and the Northern Illinois Food Bank www.northernilfoodbank.org. A complete listing of Dominick's stores can be found at www.dominicks.com.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago's food bank, is a
nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people
while striving to end hunger in our community. The Food Depository, founded in
1979, makes a daily impact across Cook County with a network of 650 pantries,
soup kitchens, shelters, mobile programs, children's programs, older adult
programs and innovative responses that address the root causes of hunger. Last
year, the Food Depository distributed 66 million pounds of shelf-stable food,
fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of 150,000 meals every
day. . For more information, visit
www.chicagosfoodbank.org
or call 773-247-FOOD.
Northern Illinois Food Bank is a nonprofit organization that distributes nutritious food to all those in need through its network of 665 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and youth sites in 13 counties. The Food Bank helps more than 61,600 people each week. For more information visit www.northernilfoodbank.org.
