Please join us in feeding our children!

Did you know half a million people rely on food provided by Northern Illinois Food Bank each year? Would you guess that about 1/2 of our K-12 students, more than 1 million children in Illinois rely on finding a free or subsidized lunch each day of the week, to lighten the burden of their families' already insufficient housing, gas, electric and water budgets, even in the most prosperous times? All of this collapses on Tuesday, March 17th.

From the 17th to the 30th and likely beyond that date, all of our children will be home, and many will miss lunch and even breakfast at before-care or after-school-care dinner provided in their school and before/after care programs. That isn't the end of the problem, many parents will have have no work to clock into over these coming weeks, or will be staying home to care for their children and their neighbors' children. Half of America lives paycheck to paycheck, the paycheck that will be missing by this month's end.

Our Homebound Cafeteria team's families feel very strongly about this. We will not let this come to pass. We will not watch our neighbors and their children suffer. We aim to raise $1,000 each lost school-day of this crisis to ensure these children do not go hungry, that they stay healthy and strong. Their parents and elderly relatives need this in these dark days.

Our team is helping Northern Illinois Food Bank find our kids' lunch - and breakfast and dinner, and you can too by donating to our Virtual Food Drive. The funds we raise purchase groceries for over 500 local food pantries, some 900 local food relief agencies, to provide nutritious food like fresh produce, protein, and milk. Not simply canned and dry goods, but healthy basic day-to-day staples that are requested by and delivered to each of our neighborhood pantries across our 13-county region.

Every $1 donated helps provide $8 worth of groceries; every gift makes a huge impact.  For a few examples;

• $20 helps provide a monthly food box to a senior who is unable to visit a food pantry.
• $30 helps provide $240 worth of groceries to a family in need.
• $60 a month helps provide a food-filled backpack to feed three children every weekend of the school year.

Weekend food is no longer enough. While we are emptying Amazon, our groceries and pharamcies, there are neighbors who simply cannot "stock up" from their available funds. This is their lifeline. If you feel as strongly as we do, please consider;

• Make a dontation, any amount is significant!
• Join our team! Spread the message with us.
• Create a team of your own! Please note that gifts of food, perishable or not, require safe and healthy manpower to sort and distribute. Cash donations ensure the right amount of the right foods are acquired and distributed quickly in this time of need.
• If you are healthy and not exposed, please consider donating your time to the NIFB or to your local food pantry for staffing, sorting, distribution or delivery. All available hands will make or break this relief effort.

However you choose to help, thank you for your kindness. We will weather this storm together.