Elijah's Pantry, GCFD, and Food Ministry at St. Luke's

by Gretchen and Jonathan BurchYou may have seen the signs around the city recently, but 1 in 6 Chicagoans faces hunger every day, not knowing from where their next meal is coming. Over 1/3 of these are children whose parents must make the choice of buying food or paying their rent and utilities. St. Luke’s, supported by a group of congregations across the Chicago area, has been doing its part to combat this problem through Elijah’s Pantry, which began in the ‘70s.Elijah’s Pantry serves people who live in the area bounded by Irving Park, Fullerton, Pulaski, and Western, and is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12 noon.  People find the need to get help with food from the pantry for a variety of reasons, including job loss, illness in the family, unexpected expenses, and other issues. People who come to get food assistance at the pantry are not asked why they need help; all are welcome. Those who come in need of food need only bring proof of address and each family is allowed to access the pantry once every month.Elijah’s Pantry is run by a large group of volunteers, who do everything from hand out food to picking up groceries. Elijah’s Pantry works in conjunction with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which supports over 650 pantries throughout Cook County. If you would like to support Elijah’s Pantry with your time, but cannot during daytime distribution and food pick-up hours, join others from St. Luke’s as we volunteer our time at the Greater Chicago Food Depository in Archer Heights every other month. Our next date is Wednesday March 5th from 6-9pm. Tasks vary from assembling emergency food boxes (done on an assembly line conjuring images of Lucy and Ethel trying to wrap all those chocolates!), to repackaging 2 ton containers of produce into manageable amounts for distribution, and sorting through donated cans of food into categories for balanced distribution. These evenings are a great way to get to know fellow members of the congregation and fit some physical labor into your day (especially if you’re stuck at a desk job all day!). Each volunteer earns the pantry $5 of food credit per hour worked. At our last visit in early January we had 8 volunteers. 8 people x $5 per person x 3 hours = $120 earned for the pantry! At the drastically reduced food prices offered by the depository to the pantry, that money helps serve a lot of people.If you’d like to learn more about volunteering at the Greater Chicago Food Depository or join us on our next trip, please contact jonathansburch@gmail.com. If you’d like to volunteer at the church during distribution hours, please contact Elijah's Pantry director Kimberly Calvillo at kimberly.calvillo@yahoo.com.