As harvest season begins to bring in its bounty, Northern Illinois Food Bank has started receiving an abundance of food in a short period of time.
That good fortune means volunteers are needed now to help sort and pack food for distribution during 2- ½ to 3-hour shifts at its West Suburban Center located at 273 Dearborn Court in Geneva.
Local service organizations looking for volunteer opportunities are sought to help make this fresh produce and food at the Northern Illinois Food Bank available to network partners, including Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry in Naperville. Food banks distribute food to food pantries. A food pantry provides food to individuals in need.
According to Monica Zawicki, AmeriCorps Vista Team Member, this season the food bank already has received:
• 4,000 pounds of sweet corn (and more is coming each week!) • One semi-trailer of potatoes every week • 25 semi-trailers of canned pumpkin pie mix • And more than 100,000 lbs of cereal, rice and pasta ready to be packed.Volunteers as well as volunteers to help recruit groups of friends, family, co-workers, social club members of 2–40 (or more!) are welcome to assist.
Most shifts are 2 ½ hours at the West Suburban Center in Geneva:
• Monday-Thursday: 9AM-Noon • Monday-Thursday: 1-4PM • Tuesdays: 6-8:30PM • Thursdays (starting in September): 4:30-6:30PM • Saturdays: 9-11:30AM • 2nd Saturdays: 1-3:30PM Check out availability and sign up to volunteer using online registration system at www.solvehungertoday.org/volunteer. By volunteering even one shift, individuals can help provide hundreds of meals to neighbors in need.Food bank serves 13 Illinois counties
According to the Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) website, its mission “is to provide nutritious food to all those in need through our own efforts and those of our more than 600 partner agencies in the following 13 counties – Boone, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago.”
In Naperville, Loaves and Fishes Community Pantry is a member partner agency, receiving food assistance from NIFB. Note that food pantries must be members to receive assistance, but there is no membership fee to join the network.
What’s more, as a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest non-governmental, domestic hunger relief organization, NIFB works with food banks throughout the nation to provide food to people in need, and to uphold the highest standards of charitable food distribution.
For more information about volunteering, visit www.solvehungertoday.org/volunteer or contact Zawicki at mzawicki@northernilfoodbank.org.
