Spirited Times - February 2008

Hungry to help? Feed my people

By LAVERNE HORGAN

2007 was a very successful year for the CHS Food Pantry.  We were able to give food to 483 families who used the pantry a total of 1,645 times. Some families used the pantry only once or twice; some used it on a regular, monthly basis.

We became a member agency of the Greater Chicago Food Depository in February, 2007. Because of this alliance, we received about 12,000 pounds of free food including meat, fruit juice, canned vegetables, rice, etc as our USDA and FEMA allocations each month.  We also were able to pick up over 1,200 pounds of fresh produce from the agency store.

Thanks to the generosity of the Giving Tree participants, the Religious Education classes, and other families in the parish, we were able to supply gifts to many children in our local communities.  We provided gifts to 136 families (a total of 420 children). The children were pre-registered through the CHS Food Pantry, and their parents were able to select gifts from a special area set up for this purpose. There was a large variety to select from, covering newborns to age 15.

Many thanks to the food pantry volunteers who helped set up the shopping area, assisted the families as personal shoppers, and helped clean up. Special thanks go to Mark and Karen Huntenburg for coordinating the Giving Tree program.