Irving Park Community Food Pantry

Jack Olech from Three Brothers Garden handed off this week’s harvest to our Produce Lady, Ana Al Saad, early Wednesday morning. This week, the delivery comprised herbs, rainbow swiss chard and kale.
The Garden is sponsored by Carlson Community Services and Irving Park Lutheran Church and does its harvests from 6 to 7 p.m. each Tuesday night. Contact Liz Drew at [email protected] if you'd like to help out.
We appreciate all their efforts on behalf of our clients, who appreciate the fresh options!

Volunteer Lisa Hendricks picked up more great donations from Lincoln Square Farmers Market on Tuesday, which were given out to clients right away Wednesday morning.
This week we received donations of asparagus, rhubarb, radishes, lettuce, spring onions, zucchini and beets from Mick Klüg Farms (https://mickklugfarms.com), Los Rodriguez Farms (www.losrodriguezfarm.com), Lafevor Farm and Greenhouses and Noffke Family Farms- Lincoln Park.
We appreciate their generous donations to help ensure our clients receive the freshest produce possible!

Some 62 clients braved the rainy weather (most came in early before it picked up speed) to shop for their 125 family members. Volunteers also made 19 deliveries to clients who are unable to come to the Pantry, for a total of 81 families helped yesterday.
We appreciate all of our volunteers who worked through whatever Mother Nature throws at us to let our neighbors shop for the food they need to feed their families each week!

Pet Food Corner volunteers Janice Jarrett and Lisa Hendricks show off recent donations they've received. About half of our clients receive food for their pets, making it hard to keep the most popular items in stock.
We are still very much in need of dry dog and cat food, as well as dog and cat treats. You can use our registries to make a donation at Amazon
(https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3CFLCPDC82CYL...)
or Chewy
https://www.chewy.com/g/irving-park-community-food-pantry_b100056269.
Locally purchased items can be taken to BIG Helpers, Inc. at 4184 N. Elston Ave. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. They also can be dropped off on the porches at 4242 N. Hamlin or 3912 N. Kenneth Ave. any time.
We appreciate your continued support of our clients' furry and feathered family members!

A late-morning delivery from the Greater Chicago Food Depository on this sunny Monday brought in our order of more than 7,500 pounds of food, which our volunteers quickly distributed to stations, freezers, refrigerators and storage space to being our preparations for our Wednesday opening.
Anyone living in our priority ZIP codes of 60641 or 60618 is welcome to visit the Pantry (4256 N. Ridgeway Ave.,) from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday to shop the full array of food and extra items we offer. That includes all of our grocery options plus toiletries and pet food. Those outside of that area can use this link to find a closer pantry: https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/find-food.
*Please note:* We are providing expanded indoor waiting space for clients due to the inclement weather that can happen at any time.
If you would like to help us purchase all of the items needed, please make a donation at our website, www.irvingparkfoodpantry.org, via PayPal, Venmo, credit cards or Google Pay. You also can mail a check to Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave, Chicago IL 60618. Thank you for your continued support of our mission to be “Neighbors Helping Neighbors!”

Volunteer Lisa Hendricks picked up donations from a variety of exhibitors at the Lincoln Square Farmers Market (https://www.facebook.com/lincolnsquarefarmersmarket) last week for our clients! She receives them at the end of the market on Tuesday and brought them to the Pantry so we could give them out immediately on Wednesday morning to our clients.
This past week, we received generous donations of strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, radishes, spring onions and other fresh produce from Mick Klüg Farms (https://mickklugfarms.com), Los Rodriguez Farm (www.losrodriguezfarm.com), Noffke Family Farms- Lincoln Park and Farm and Greenhouses www.facebook.com/lafevorfarmkankakee), plus bread from Breadman Baking Company www.facebook.com/BreadmanBakingCompany).
We appreciate their contributions to helping our clients enjoy fresh produce and bread all summer long!

Thank you to the folks at Mayer Brown LLP, who ran a food drive for selected items for us and collected 23 boxes of boxed pasta and mac & cheese! We appreciate their efforts on behalf of our clients and focusing on key needs.
For more about their services, visit https://www.linkedin.com/company/mayer-brown

Jack Olech from Three Brothers Garden stopped by bright and early on Wednesday with this week's harvest from their garden, comprising kale, radishes and herbs.
The Garden, sponsored by Carlson Community Services and Irving Park Lutheran Church, harvests from 6 to 7 p.m. each Tuesday night. Contact Liz Drew at [email protected] if you'd like to help out.
We're always glad to see Jack arrive with the harvest and appreciate the gardeners' ongoing support!

We had 74 clients come in on Wednesday, braving the warm, muggy air to shop for food for their 222 family members. Volunteers also made home deliveries to 20 clients who are unable to come in to pick up their food.
Thank you to all of our volunteers, especially our outdoor crew, who worked through the difficult condition to help clients shop and be on their way home quickly!

Volunteers helped 41 clients shop for food for their 152 family members last night during our monthly Tuesday-night distribution. We also gave pet food to 31 clients for their pets of all kinds.
And volunteers made 11 deliveries to our homebound clients, bringing the total clients served to 52.
The team was short-staffed so everyone was hustling, but they made sure all of our clients received the food choices they wanted for their families. We appreciate all the hard work our volunteers put in to ensure we can help as many of our neighbors as possible!