Two holidays collided over the weekend at the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Geneva warehouse.
On Saturday, more than 200 volunteers kicked off the food bank’s annual Holiday Meal Box plan by packing 9,000 boxes that will be distributed throughout November and December to hungry families.
At the same time, post-Halloween pumpkins were gathered as part of the Inaugural Pumpkin Pitch.
Instead of going in landfills, these pumpkins that weighed-in at 650 pounds were given to Pushing the Envelope Farm. Located down the street from the food bank, Pushing the Envelope Farm will compost the pumpkins on its soil.
A fresh produce donor of the Food Bank, Pushing the Envelope Farm is a nonprofit community farm that explores Jewish agricultural traditions. As part of its mission, the farm grows vegetables and fruits in its Tzedakah Donation Garden to give to those in need including the Northern Illinois Food Bank.
This year alone Pushing the Envelope Farm donated 2,400 pounds of produce to the food bank, officials said.
This season, the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Holiday Meal Box program aims to provide 35,000 families across Northern Illinois with a traditional holiday meal.
With a mission that no one go hungry in Northern Illinois, the food bank serves 71,500 people each week across a 13-county service area through its feeding programs and to a network of 800 pantries, soup kitchens and feeding sites.
Last year alone, the Northern Illinois Food Bank served 62.5 million meals to those in need, food bank officials said.
At the kick-off event, representatives from local companies including Tyson Foods – which is the official program sponsor – Kellogg’s, Jewel-Osco, Bimbo Bakeries USA and The Jel-Sert Company worked together in long assembly lines to pack boxes.
Along with 54 fellow Tyson employees, Tyson Food’s Matt Pakula brought his two daughters, 9-year-old Claire and 7-year-old Kate, to help.
Claire added stuffing mix to the holiday meal boxes that also included a frozen turkey, fresh potatoes, gravy, vegetables, fruit, dessert and coffee, while her sister, Kate, helped close the meal boxes.
In addition to a $100,000 cash donation, last week Tyson Foods donated 31,840 pounds of chicken, Elizabeth Gartman with the Northern Illinois Food Bank said.
“We recently received a grant from Tyson through Feeding America to be able to repack bulk protein in smaller quantities so that it can be distributed to our food pantries,” she added.
Jewel-Osco’s Doug Cygan, who serves on the board of the food bank and has volunteered for the event for about 18 years, put off heading to a family wedding for a couple of hours to help kick off the event.
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He said each year the event draws employees from different parts of Jewel-Osco to work together at the food bank’s Geneva warehouse.
Leading up to the event, he said team members vie for their “preferred” job and everyone works to be the first one to complete their assignment.
Volunteers will continue to pack meal boxes at the food bank’s centers in Geneva, Park City and Rockford through November and December.
Some like Geneva High School senior Aaron Bastin come at least once a week all year long.
Bastin, who began volunteering last December as part of a teen volunteer program, said he volunteers to help out those in need, especially those who are homeless or hungry.
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Northern Illinois Food Bank holiday drive
A $30 donation provides a Holiday Meal Box to a family in need. To volunteer, donate or get involved, go to SolveHungerToday.org or call 630-443-6910.