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player ready...By Brian L. Cox
As president of the Hunger Resource Network in Northbrook, Dan Jariabka is sometimes fondly referred to as the “chicken man.” And for good reason; since 2009 the resource network has given more than 4,250,000 pounds of chicken and other protein rich foods to soup kitchens, food pantries and other organizations in need.
“It’s grown way beyond what I expected,” Jariabka said. “There’s been wonderful people who have come to help.”
“When we need a web designer all of the sudden someone will show up and say ‘I’m a web designer can I help?'” he said. “It’s just been amazing how people show up when we need them. I feel blessed to be connected to them. It’s not me. It’s all of us working together to make it happen.”
He said that the network was born out of Saint Giles Episcopal Church in Northbrook, which had been “rescuing” more than 20 tons of food per year being discarded at Northbrook’s Sunset Foods.
Jariabka was a “senior warden” in the parish, and together with his wife Linda and a group of parishioners, they created the network to expand the scope of the church’s food rescue program.
He said that since 2009, the resource network has given more than 4,250,000 pounds of food to hundreds of soup kitchens and food pantries from the Wisconsin border through Illinois into Indiana.
“With rescuing food, bagels and that, your car smells like onion bagels for about two days,” he chuckled.
He also said much of that food that the resource network donates is in the form of frozen chicken leg quarters.
“It’s protein rich,” he explained. “We buy it at a very reasonable price and get the most amount of food for our dollar.”
“We give away about two hundred and forty thousand pounds of protein rich food each year,” he added.
The resource network is holding a fundraiser titled “Driving the Need to Feed” at the Chevy Chase golf course in Wheeling on August 23, said Ky Smith development director with HRN. She said HRN is selling 2,000 numbered golf balls which will be hoisted above a green on the course and then dropped from a high elevation. The three balls that land closest to the cup will be winners.
“It’s fun to see,” she said.
Golf balls can be purchased on the HRN website at https://cbo.io/hrn/Golf23.
Smith also said the need for HRN’s services has grown in the wake of COVID-19 and skyrocketing food prices due to inflation.
“We had to double what we’re doing so we can help more people,” she said. “That’s the reason we’re trying to do as much as we can.”
“With food prices up, there’s more people going to food pantries and shelters,” she explained. “That’s where we come in, to ensure they have a nutritious meal.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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