We don't know about you, but there is nothing we would rather be doing on a Saturday morning or Tuesday evening than working at the Food Pantry!

Seriously, we have a lot of fun at the Pantry, while helping a lot of people.  With the kids going back to school and things returning to normal, now is a good time to come in and check it out.  All you have to do is come one time and you'll be hooked!  Can you swing a commitment for 2 hours, once a month?  If you can, please go to www.sharefoodsharelove.com/how-do-i-volunteer.html and sign up. 

A big, big Share Food Share Love thank you to our friends from Daisy Troop 55616 at Brookpark School!  They had their own garden this summer and decided to donate some of their produce to the Food Pantry.  There isn't much that our clients love more than fresh produce and this week they have you to thank for it!  Great job and thank you so much for thinking of us!  

If you are a gardener and your little patch of heaven produces more than you or your family can consume, consider donating it to your local food pantry!  We are always open to donations of fresh produce and our clients absolutely love it!  You can bring your donations during distribution hours (Tuesdays 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm and Saturdays 10:00 am to 12:00 pm) or email us at contactus@sharefoodsharelove.com and we can make special arrangements.  Or if our Pantry is not convenient for you, check out ampleharvest.org and you can find a Pantry or other organization that will accept your donation.  

The Greater Chicago Food Depository will be hosting their 33rd Annual Hunger Walk on Saturday September 8 in Jackson Park in Chicago.  The Walk opens at 7:00 am, officially steps-off at 8:30 am and concludes at 11:30 am.

The Share Food Share Love Food Pantry is an agency of the Depository and they are instrumental in making sure that our shelves are well stocked with little or no cost passed along to the Pantry.

For more information, to register to walk or to make a donation, please visit chicagosfoodbank.org/hungerwalk or click here.

The Pantry would like to acknowledge the RBHS Art Club for their very generous donation to aid in our efforts to fight hunger.  The Club hosted an event that was inspired by the "Empty Bowls" movement during which students and local artists created pottery, filled it with food and then sold the work at their Spring Art Show.  

The event was in honor of Riverside artist and teacher, Kate Mussio, who lived a life filled with creativity and giving.  The donation was made on her behalf with generous contributions from her loving family and friends.

Pottery was created and donated by Riverside Brookfield Art Club and students, Elmwood Park High School students, Katie Nettie, Mary Palmer and Suzanne Zimmerman.

Thank you to everyone who participated this awesome event and for your generosity and thoughtfulness in helping those in need!

If you have come to the Pantry, you have probably noticed the garage structure (pictured above) that is located right next to the door to enter the Pantry. The garage is owned by the church who hosts the Pantry (Faith Lutheran Church) and the church no longer has a need for the structure. Rather than demolish the building, the church has offered it to the Pantry to use for additional storage. The Pantry would love to have the building so that we could store more food and expand our refrigeration capacity. However, as you can see in the above picture, the building is in rough shape. It needs new siding, new overhead doors, a new roof and insulation. This would be a realistic project over time, but now the church has received a blight order in relation to the condition of the building and we will need to get the work done sooner than later. We have some very generous volunteers who have offered to do a significant portion of the work, but we need contributions to pay for materials and to pay professionals to complete the projects that volunteers can't. If you would like to help us expand our capacity and serve more people in need, please consider making a donation to assist in our efforts. We don't like to ask for money, but this is an opportunity that we don't want to lose and if we cannot raise enough to complete the rehabilitation, the church will have no choice but to have the building demolished.

You can contribute on our website via PayPal or you can mail a check to the Pantry at PO Box 22, Brookfield, IL 60513. Every little bit helps and all donations will be sincerely appreciated. Thank you for your attention!

We just received this very important message from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and are passing it on to you to ask you to consider participating:

On June 13, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry passed its version of the Farm Bill – the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. This bipartisan bill is a stark improvement from the Farm Bill (H.R. 2) released by the House Agriculture Committee in April. 
The next stop is a vote by the full Senate. Congressional Leaders have indicated they intend to bring up the Farm Bill for a vote before the July 4th recess.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository applauds the Senate Committee for introducing a Farm Bill that protects the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – our nation’s most effective anti-hunger program.  
We are, however, concerned that Agriculture Improvement Act does not include sufficient investments in The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). TEFAP supplies food banks across the country with high-quality, nutritious USDA food for the people we serve. 
Take action today! Stand with the Food Depository to urge the Senate to support a Farm Bill that protects both SNAP and TEFAP. These programs allow charitable organizations and government to work in tandem, preventing millions of Americans from going hungry.
Send a message to your Senators now!Thank you for raising your voice in the fight against hunger and poverty.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository 

Some of our bookshelves are looking pretty bare!  Our clients can't afford to buy food so we know that books are a luxury for which there is little room in their budgets.  If you have books that you can donate, you can drop them at the Pantry any Tuesday evening (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm) or Saturday (10:00 am to 12:00 pm).  Or, if you just can't seem to get here, send us an email at contactus@sharefoodsharelove.com and we will make arrangements to have a few of our volunteers come by and pick them up as soon as we have someone available.

If you are a regular reader of our posts, you know that we have a number of groups who help us, either by coming and helping during distribution, or by collecting food or raising money or sometimes all three!  Well, your group can help too!  We are always looking for assistance and welcome all groups.  Whether it is a Cub Scout or Girl Scout troop, a church group, a bowling team, all groups are welcome!  And if you don't have a group, we even have families that help out together!  Helping those is need is a great way to bring your group or family together.  Not only it is fun, but everyone leaves feeling good about contributing.  If you have a group that is interested, send us an email at contactus@sharefoodsharelove.com .

Thank you to our very generous and giving friends at Lincoln Park School in Brookfield!  They gave us a load of canned goods and other things for the Pantry.  We are very grateful to everyone who donated and so are our clients!  Seeing so many of our young people willing to give to others give us great hope for the future.  Thank you again and go Leopards!