The 17th annual Holiday Food Drive, which began Nov. 1 and ended Nov. 27, raised the equivalent of 14,556 pounds of food for the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry.
That was contained in 1,620 packaged grocery bags, which are designed to stock the shelves to serve the more than 1,500 families in a given week the pantry serves.
That figure is an increase of about 200 families that took place just in the past few months, pantry officials said.
The food drive also is aided by hundreds of volunteers and staff hours as well as organizations.
Pantry officials said the outcome of the community’s efforts was most visible the week before Thanksgiving, when the pantry distributed turkeys and holiday meal boxes containing ingredients for all the traditional side dishes.
The purchase of these meals was made possible by a Quality of Life Grant from the city of Aurora. For the holiday meal boxes, the Eccher family and Aurora Generation provided donations of $20,000 and $24,000 respectively.
The distribution of the holiday meal boxes was coordinated by community partners Northern Illinois Food Bank.
The food and fund-raising from the drive was augmented by this year’s Giving Tuesday contributions made to the pantry.
Longtime supporter of the pantry, Karen Leonard, presented a match challenge, which she does every year.
This year, Leonard offered a one-to-one match up to $20,000. Thanks to more than a hundred donors, the match was exceeded, altogether raising $41,444 on Giving Tuesday, pantry officials said.
“It’s incredibly heartwarming to see the community pull together to care for one another,” said Heather Short, director of Development and Communications at the pantry.
Short said that “95% of our operational budget goes towards getting food to our neighbors through our food distributions, Pantry2Go, Text4Food and curbside services. The additional funds mean we can provide our neighbors with more nourishing food options and continue enhancing our current programming to better meet the needs of our community.”
The Holiday Food Drive was centered around three participating grocery stores: Prisco’s Family Market, 1108 Prairie St., Aurora; Cermak Fresh Market, 1250 N. Lake St., Aurora; and La Chiquita, 1525 Douglas Road, Montgomery.
Sponsors of the Aurora Holiday Food Drive were Dolan and Murphy, Inc. real estate; Konen Insurance; Gerald Subaru of North Aurora; AuraLight Dispensary; Douglas Carpet One; Aurora Bank & Trust; Bob’s Discount Furniture; Oak St. Health; AC’s Pub; Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward; The Beacon-News; Aurora Fastprint; Prisco’s Family Market; Cermak Fresh Market; La Chiquita; and 95.9 The River.
slord@tribpub.com
