October's Featured Nonprofit: South Loop Food Pantry

In August, we launched our new fair trade store in partnership with Ten Thousand Villages.  Each month, we're giving 5% of the gross sales to a different nonprofit.  Because of September's sales, we are able to give $32.02 to Chicago Fair Trade.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but with the film screening proceeds going to them as well, they are receiving $65.57.  That bigger than we were able to do in August so let's see if we can keep the trend going and beat that amount this month.  Here's who will be receiving October's 5%...

The South Loop Food Pantry at South Loop Community Church is a member agent of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.  They launched this year and are already serving 40 plus families per week at their Saturday distributions.

I (Amanda) used to volunteer at another food pantry on the north side. While volunteering there I learned that the families who depend on food from the pantry are especially in need at Thanksgiving.  The week before Thanksgiving, there were lots of families who showed up at the pantry needing food.  Partially, they wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving just like the rest of us but also their kids were out of school and they were losing a day of work, etc.  Several factors made it very important to get some food to put on their tables.

During the season from Thanksgiving through New Year's, there are lots of people and organizations that help those living in poverty in our communities but not very many before Thanksgiving.  We were thinking about this and decided that we should use our giving in October to be ready to help in November.  Thus, the 5% we're giving to the South Loop Food Pantry will go toward distributing extra food on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

If you'd like to help more than with your purchases from our Ten Thousand Villages store, please visit the food pantry's website for information.  You can also drop off non-perishable food items the next time you stop by Overflow for your cup of coffee or croissant.