FEEDING OUR HUNGRY NEIGHBORS FALL 2019 THE FULL …...We’re proud to be celebrating our 160th anniversary this year! To find out more about us, visit . 2019 Volunteer Awards In June,

THE FULL PLATE

I N T H I S I S S U E

School Pantries: Making nutritious groceries convenient for families

Afterschool and BackPack Programs ramp up for new school year

Back to school with full bellies

FALL 2019F E E D I N G O U R H U N G R Y N E I G H B O R S

D300 Food Pantry celebrates 3 years

Dear Friends,We take our

responsibility to steward the resources graciously donated to us very seriously. One of our strategic pathways is Be Trusted Financial Stewards, which means we are committed to use our resources wisely and be transparent with

our supporters. We are a financially healthy organization with six months of operating reserves.

We are respected for earning a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for 15 consecutive years. This year, we will be rated as a 3-star charity which means we “exceed or meet industry standards and

perform as well as or better than most charities in the cause.” The rating is a combination of our financial standing and our accountability and transparency. We feel it is important to let you know why this change will occur.

One of the areas that Charity Navigator evaluates is program growth, which for us equates to meals distributed. When we started our current strategic plan in 2014, we were providing 50 million meals and seeing year-over-year meal growth of 10+%. The good news is that thanks to YOU and our generous supporters, we are closing the meal gap in Northern Illinois—meaning rapid growth is no longer necessary. We are now providing 69 million meals annually, meeting the meal gap in more than 80% of our communities, and need about 2 million more meals to solve hunger in Northern

Illinois. The Charity Navigator model does not account for this.

We are proud to be accredited by the Better Business Bureau and recognized by GuideStar with a Platinum Seal of Transparency—its highest rating—for voluntarily and publicly sharing information about how we measure progress and results. We will continue to be forthright and transparent with our supporters, our network and our community.

Thank you for your continued trust and support as we solve hunger in Northern Illinois together.

Sincerely,

Growing into the years aheadFall 2019

FR

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Northern Illinois Food Bank

is working toward solving

hunger in Northern Illinois

for our neighbors in need.

Look for the following icons

throughout this issue of The

Full Plate accompanying

stories that highlight the five

pillars of our strategic plan:IN THIS ISSUE

2 / 3 T H E F U L L P L AT E

Julie YurkoPresident and CEO

Tim HieberChief Financial Officer

Provide More Meals

Ignite the Community

Build Healthy Communities

Strengthen Leadership

Be Trusted

Financial Stewards

Page 3 D300 and other school pantries

make nutritious groceries

convenient for families

Page 4 Child Nutrition Programs fuel

healthy school years across

Northern Illinois

Page 5 • Honoring those who Do What

Matters: 2019 Volunteer

Appreciation Award Winners

• You Matter to Us:

Highlighting corporate Food

Bank partner, Tate & Lyle

Pages 6 -7 Around the Food Bank:

A Taste that Matters and

Foodie 5K event recaps

Page 8 Upcoming events calendar:

Hunger Action Month events,

Stars & Cars, and more!

www.SolveHungerToday.org

It’s a sunny, warm day at Carpentersville Middle School—sidewalk chalk doodles are scrawled across the asphalt, coloring books mingle with blocks of all sizes in large plastic bins,

and the sound of laughter from excited little voices fill the air, as children play under the watchful eyes of their parents.

These families are waiting at Door 20 of the school, but they’re not here for a band concert, parent-teacher conference, or to drop their kids off for class. Instead, they’re picking up groceries from the school’s food pantry.

Located in a former dock area that was repurposed to meet the needs of its student population, D300 Food Pantry first opened in 2016 and serves families and employees of Community Unit School District 300, the sixth-largest school district in Illinois.*

“We partner with D300 as much as we possibly can, and they’ve been really wonderful to work with,” says Leslie LaMarca, President of the Food Pantry. “We are a separate entity, [but] they do everything they can to help us.”

Now in its third year of operation, the pantry serves an average of 80 families per week, many of whom are referred to the pantry through school liaisons and social workers.

Back in 2015, Northern Illinois Food Bank helped D300 identify a location and make plans to operate within the Food Bank's network. The Food Bank raised funds to equip the pantry with refrigerators, freezers and shelving, and supported the pantry's food expenses for the first full year.

Over the years, the Food Bank has been fortunate to partner with a variety of organizations to expand the School-Based

Food Pantry program to serve more families. Major funders include Feeding America thanks to Conagra Brands Foundation and Morgan Stanley, General Mills Foundation, Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation, and Kishwaukee Hospital (now part of Northwestern Medicine).

“People love it and they feel safe here,” says Kris Korth, Pantry Manager. “The perception is really great, I think, because it is school-based. It’s for everybody.”

LaMarca agrees. “We’re creating a totally different kind of culture,” she explains. “We want families to be comfortable here, in hopes that if they feel more comfortable, they’ll come get food for their kids when they need it.”

After all, as their motto says, that’s what D300 Food Pantry is all about: “Keepin’ the kids fed!”

School pantries provide an easy way for families to get groceries

Keeping kids fed

* Based on student enrollment

DID YOU KNOW? There are more than a dozen school-based pantries in Northern Illinois Food Bank’s network, which serve more than 1,000 households per month:

• Barb Food Mart, DeKalb• Bensenville District 2, Bensenville• D300 Food Pantry, Carpentersville• Family Care Closet, North Chicago• HCS Family Services, Willowbrook• Huskie Food Pantry, DeKalb• Kendall County Community Food Pantry, Plano

• Marie Wilkinson East Community Food Pantry, Aurora

• Rockford Public Schools – Kennedy Middle School, Rockford

• SOBO Food Pantry, South Beloit• Spartan Food Pantry, Sycamore• Unity Kitchen, Crete• WeGo Together Food Pantry, West Chicago

4 / 5 T H E F U L L P L AT E

BackPack and Afterschool Programs fuel healthy school years across Northern Illinois

BackPack and CACFP Programs spotlight

At Taylor Park Elementary School, Friday afternoon means something special to 15 local families – and not just the end

of another week, but Friday is when their children pick up a blue backpack on wheels that is full of nutritious food to bring home for the weekend.

Taylor Park is one of a handful of schools in Freeport, and more than 180 schools in Northern Illinois, participating in the Food Bank’s BackPack Program, which provides food to supplement weekly meals for a child and their siblings. Children are identified by school staff, who recognize signs of chronic hunger or are aware of families in need, and distribute backpacks to students at the end of the week.

Marie Stott, Family Resource Coordinator at Taylor Park, shares that the backpacks

distributed to these families provides food for the weekend to more than 30 children. While this may seem like a small number, the impact it makes for these children and families is enormous. And as the Food Bank, we believe that every single child should have the food they need.

The variety of food inside each backpack is determined by the USDA’s MyPlate Program, which suggests children have at least one serving of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and dairy with each meal. Every backpack contains all of these components, along with accompanying recipes families can use to prepare their meals.

Thanks to the support of our generous donors, the BackPack Program provided more than 725,000 meals for children across Northern Illinois last year alone.

To learn how you can help provide food to local children and families like those at Taylor Park Elementary, contact Hester Bury at [email protected] or call (630) 443-6910 ext. 124.

Honoring those who Do What Matters

YOU MATTER TO US

I n this issue of The Full Plate, we feature corporate Food Bank partner, Tate & Lyle. Since 2012, the company has supported

our special events, Holiday Meal Box Program and more. We spoke with Jennifer Walker, Director of Global Community Relations, to learn why they love being part of the Food Bank family.

1. How did Tate & Lyle first hear about the Food Bank, and why did the company get involved?

We began partnering with the Food Bank shortly after establishing our global Commercial and Food Innovation Center in Hoffman Estates, IL seven years ago. As an ingredients company with food at its core, and with our purpose of Improving Lives for Generations, ensuring our communities have enough nutritious food to eat is a priority area for us.

2. What is the best part of supporting the Food Bank? What makes us different than other organizations the company supports?

The best part of our partnership with the Food Bank is that our teams can be involved in many different ways, but always with the collective goal of feeding hungry neighbors. For example, we’re able to pack food as a big group at the Geneva Center, bring small teams from other locations together locally via mobile pantries or keep the service totally in-house through our annual food drive. It’s through these touchpoints across the year that we’re able to get personally involved and have the greatest impact!

3. Do you have any favorite memories from your time volunteering with the Food Bank?

We love being a part of the Holiday Meal Pack which we’ve sponsored the past two years (celebrating this fall being our third)! Not only is it an amazing team building experience – working for two hours packing together – but, knowing that our morning’s work will help make the holidays a little bit brighter for local families makes the volunteering extra special.

4. Anything else you’d like to share?

We’re proud to be celebrating our 160th anniversary this year! To find out more about us, visit www.tateandlyle.com.

2019 Volunteer Awards

www.SolveHungerToday.org

I n June, the Food Bank held its 20th annual volunteer appreciation event, which was themed as a picnic in

the park—a fitting start to summer! The Food Bank is lucky to have 25,000 volunteers come through our doors throughout the year, we’re even luckier to have so many that are so dedicated to our mission and to helping solve hunger across Northern Illinois!

To read more about each honoree, please visit our blog, The Side Dish, at SolveHungerToday.org/blog!

2019 Volunteer Awards• Corporate Volunteer Group of the Year: AT&T• Volunteer Organization of the Year: Shorewood Glen Service Club• Volunteer Supervisor of the Year: Alan Loeb• Outstanding Youth Volunteer of the Year: Andrew Borse• WSC Volunteer of the Year: Nancy Nichols• NWC Volunteer of the Year: Carl Adrignola• NSC Volunteer of the Year: Connie Purcell • SSC Volunteer of the Year: Ken and Lynda Alling• Inspirational Volunteer of the Year: Ken Lindner

In addition to the BackPack Program, Northern Illinois Food Bank also sponsors an

afterschool meal program called CACFP (Child and Adult Care Feeding Program), which is funded by the USDA and administered by the Illinois State

Board of Education (ISBE).

Last year, the Food Bank worked with 155 approved sites and programs to provide

more than 625,000 meals worth of nutritious afterschool snacks or cold suppers for children, as well as provide training, support and ensuring

documentation compliance.

AROUND THE FOOD BANK

A GRRRREAAATT big thank you to our presenting sponsor, Kellogg’s, for helping make this year's Foodie 5Ks a success! They were onsite passing out delicious snacks in the race festival area, and not only did Tony the Tiger help kick off the race, but was there to cheer on participants as they crossed the finish line!

Nearly 30 of Chicago’s best restaurants and food vendors provided delicious bites and sips for guests to enjoy throughout the evening.

In all, this year’s Foodie 5K race series raised more than $1.75 million in much-needed groceries for our neighbors—proving that what YOU do truly does make a difference in our community!

Anthony Suggs, VP of Marketing and Merchandising, Jewel-Osco with his wife Angela (left), and Julie Yurko, President & CEO of Northern Illinois Food Bank (right), before the welcome remarks.

In the post-race festival area, participants (and their families) enjoyed delicious food tastings from a variety of local restaurants and food vendors.

Be sure to mark your calendars for May 16, 2020 and join us again for another delicious evening to help solve hunger in Northern Illinois!

Also in the post-race festival area, kids enjoyed face painting, games, dancing, and other fun activities!

This year’s silent auction was full of 155 fantastic prizes and gift packages, including sports memorabilia, vacations, food and wine baskets, fine jewelry and more!

www.SolveHungerToday.org

Thanks to everyone who attended our 8th Annual A Taste That Matters event on Thursday, May 16 at Drury Lane in Oak Brook. Presented by Jewel-Osco, the event raised nearly $3.2 million in groceries for neighbors across Northern Illinois!

6 / 7 T H E F U L L P L AT E

Thanks to all our sponsors, volunteers and nearly 2,000 participants who joined us for our annual Foodie 5Ks presented by Kellogg’s that took place in Wheaton on April 27, and in Libertyville on June 1. The weather couldn’t keep the fun away either day!

OCTOBERStars & CarsWednesday, October 23 | 6 p.m.Doubletree Hotel Libertyville-MundeleinThe Food Bank’s glitziest event of the year, Stars and Cars, returns for a seventh year! Enjoy delicious food and drink tastings from local chefs and restaurants and an extensive silent/live auction mingling with local celebrities and athletes among classic cars while supporting the Food Bank. Visit www.SolveHungerToday.org/Stars or contact Kate Thomas at [email protected] to learn more or purchase sponsorships or tickets.

HOLIDAY GIVING OPPORTUNITIESOctober-DecemberMake the holidays bright for our neighbors and help put food on their table this year! Donate $10+ and get a specially-designed holiday card to gift that helps provide $80 worth of groceries, donate $30 to help provide a complete Holiday Meal Box to a local family in need, or host an online food or fund drive! Call us today at (630) 443-6910 to learn how you can give what matters this holiday season!

See our complete calendar of events at www.SolveHungerToday.org/events

Upcoming Activities

SEPTEMBER IS HUNGER ACTION MONTH! Pack-A-Thons Help us celebrate Hunger Action Month with your family, friends and coworkers and register to participate in the Pack-A-Thon nearest you! All Pack-A-Thons consist of four 2-hour volunteer shifts each day. Register today at SolveHungerToday.org/HAM as space is limited! Contact Teresa Schryver at [email protected] with any questions.

Pass the PlateSeptember 1-30 | Various locationsSupport the Food Bank during Hunger Action Month and visit a participating restaurant in September to enjoy special menu options, bill discounts, special events and more that help feed our hungry neighbors! Visit SolveHungerToday.org/PassThePlate for a list of participating restaurants.

Friday, Sept. 6 | GenevaFriday, Sept. 13 | Joliet

Friday, Sept. 20 | Park CityFriday, Sept. 27 | Rockford

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Send comments/questions about articles in this issue to [email protected].