| Formation | 1983 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
| Headquarters | 273 Dearborn Court Geneva, IL 60134 United States |
Region served | Northern Illinois |
Membership | 300 pantries |
President and CEO | Julie Yurko |
| Website | solvehungertoday |
Northern Illinois Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a member of Feeding America, they serve 13 counties in suburban and rural Northern Illinois by providing 250,000 meals a day. [1] They bring together manufacturers, local and corporate grocers, area farmers, corporations, foundations, and individuals who donate food and funding, and each week nearly 1,000 volunteers help them evaluate, repack, and distribute food. [1] They also partner with more than 900 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and youth and senior feeding programs to provide nutritious food and resources. [1] Their four distribution centers are located in Geneva, Lake Forest, Rockford and Joliet.
In 1982, Sister Rosemarie Burian decided to create a food bank out of DuPage County, Illinois. In 1983 she opened the Bethlehem Center, now known as the Northern Illinois Food Bank. [2] In its first month, Bethlehem Center distributed 7,000 pounds of food. [2] By 1985, the center serviced over 100 food pantries in DuPage, Will, Kane, and McHenry counties in Northern Illinois. In 1992, Northern Illinois Food Bank became a certified affiliate of Feeding America, the nation's food bank network. [3] In October 2001, they opened their second distribution center in Park City. [3] The third distribution center was opened in Rockford in 2005. [3] By 2008, they were distributing 22 million pounds of food. [4] In 2011, they had more than 600 partners organizations placing orders and 36 million pounds of food were distributed. [5] Their fourth distribution center opened in 2018, in Joliet. [6]
Julie Yurko was named President and CEO of Northern Illinois Food Bank in 2014. [7]
Donations come from food corporations and from grocery stores who give slightly damaged and unsellable goods. [4] In 2007, they started working with Sam's Club and in that year alone they donated 1 million pounds of food. [4] In 2009, Walmart donated 40 refrigerated trucks and Northern Illinois Food Bank managed to get one of them. [4] In 2010, Highland Park Hospital donated $10,000. [8] Jewel-Osco has donated food to the Northern Illinois Food Bank since the late 1980s. [9] In 2017, Jewel-Osco's Bensenville location donated 38,000 cans of garbanzo beans to the food bank which helped provide an estimated 35,000 meals to those in need. In the same year they donated 14 million pounds of food, [9] and in 2018, Jewel-Osco partnered with Hormel Foods and donated 33,122 jars of peanut butter, enough to make 500,000 sandwiches. [10] In 2016, Tyson Foods donated 108,049 pounds of protein to the food bank. [11] Donations not only come from food corporations, other organizations donate money as well, such as the MetLife Foundation that gave the food bank a $25,000 grant in 2011, enough to provide 150,000 meals. [12] In 2017, the food bank partnered with employees at Partners Warehouse and Elwood Fire Department to provide 260 boxes of food to 2,000 people right before the American holiday season. [13]
Northern Illinois Food Bank has four distribution centers. They are located in Geneva, Lake Forest, Rockford, and Joliet.
The West Suburban Center (Geneva) is the largest with 147,000 square feet and provides more than 80 million meals a year in 13 counties throughout suburban and rural Northern Illinois. [14] [3]
The North Suburban Center (Lake Forest) distribution center has 9,600 square feet of space. [3]
The Northwest Center (Rockford) distribution center has 23,000 square feet of space. [3]
The South Suburban Office (Joliet) distribution center serves Will, Kankakee, Kendall, and Grundy counties. [14] [3] The Joliet location has 18,000 square feet of space rented from Harvest Bible Chapel and includes refrigerators and freezers to store cold foods. [14]
During the summer, Northern Illinois Food Bank operates a mobile program called Meals on the Move. The Meals on the Move truck travels to six different locations throughout Aurora to serve free meals to children 18 years and young. The program is administered by the Illinois State Board of Education in partnership with the USDA Summer Food Service Program. [15] The program partners with the Aurora Public Library bookmobile and Fox Valley Park District Neighborhood Art Program to provide activities for the children. [16]
The Holiday Meal Box program is a yearly event conducted by the food bank. The program packs boxes with a traditional holiday meal and distributes the boxes to families in need throughout November and December. Companies participating in the annual program have included Tyson Foods, Kellogg's, and Jewel-Osco. [17]
The Summer Meal Program provides breakfast, lunch and snacks at over 130 locations to children 18 and under and runs from June to mid-August. In 2017, the Summer Meal Program served 245,000 meals at parks, churches, schools, and other sites. [18]
Northern Illinois Food Bank holds four signature fundraisers annually.
Northern Illinois Food Bank 2019 fundraising events include A Cup of Hope luncheon and auction, Fight Hunger 5K and Fun Run, A Taste That Matters sponsored by Jewel-Osco. The event includes silent auction and food made by more than 30 local chefs, and Hunger Scramble golf outing in August. [19]
Charity Navigator rated Northern Illinois Food Bank four out of four stars and gave it an overall score of 99%. The star rating is a reflection of the overall score. The overall score indicates how efficiently a charity will use their support, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time, and their level of commitment to accountability and transparency." [20] [21]
In 2017, USDA gave Northern Illinois Food Bank's Summer Meal Program a silver 'Turnip the Beet' award for their participation in the program. [22]
Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
Jewel-Osco is a regional supermarket chain in the Chicago metropolitan area, headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb. In 2007, the company had 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana. Jewel-Osco has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Boise-based Albertsons since 1999. The company originally started as a door-to-door coffee delivery service before it expanded into delivering non-perishable groceries and later into grocery stores, and supermarkets. Prior to its 1984 acquisition by American Stores, Jewel evolved into a large multi-state holding company that operated several supermarket chains and other non-food retail chain stores located from coast to coast and had operated under several different brand names.
Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs were the names of a pair of chain pharmacies that operated in the United States. Osco Drug was founded by the Skaggs family. Alpha Beta grocery store was purchased by American Stores in 1961. Skaggs Drug Centers bought American Stores in 1979 and assumed the American Stores name. Sav-on Drugs was a California-based pharmacy chain that was acquired by Osco's parent company in 1980. Both Osco and Sav-on stores eventually came under the ownership of American Stores, then Albertsons, and finally SuperValu before the stores were sold off.
SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).
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The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a social benefit organization located in Plano, Texas. The organization distributes donated, purchased and prepared foods through a network of nearly 1,000 feeding programs and 400 Partner Agencies in 13 North Texas counties. The NTFB supports the nutritional needs of children, seniors, and families through education, advocacy and strategic partnerships.
The Houston Food Bank (HFB) is a non-profit organization and the nation's largest food bank by distribution; providing access to 207 million nutritious meals in 18 counties in southeast Texas. The food bank's operations are made possible through a network of 1,800 community partners alongside their partner food banks in Montgomery County, Galveston and Brazos Valley. Headed by its current President and CEO, Brian Greene, the Houston Food Bank is a member organization of Feeding America, with a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. The Houston Food Bank, which bares the mission statement of Food for Better Lives, continues to be acknowledged for its community impact. Notable recognitions include Food bank of the Year in 2015, presented by Feeding America and the Pinnacle winner in 2012 and 2014, presented by the Better Business Bureau.
Food For The Poor, Inc. (FFP) is an ecumenical Christian nonprofit organization based in Coconut Creek, Florida, United States that provides food, medicine, and shelter, among other services, to the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Feed the Children, established in 1979 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization focused on alleviating childhood hunger. Its mission is "providing hope and resources for those without life's essentials." The organization provides food, essentials, education supplies and disaster relief to those in need across the United States and in eight countries around the world. Domestically, Feed the Children operates five distribution centers located in Oklahoma, Indiana, California, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest organization in the Washington metro area working to solve hunger and its companion problems: chronic undernutrition, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. By partnering with over 450 community organizations in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as delivering food directly into hard to reach areas, each year the Capital Area Food Bank is helping nearly half a million people each year get access to good, healthy food.
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Food Bank For New York City is a non-profit social services organization and the major hunger-relief organization working against hunger in the five boroughs. Its aim is to organize food, information and support for needy citizens of New York City.
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The Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) is a nonprofit organization that fights hunger throughout Cook County, Illinois. The GCFD distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 700 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and community programs, serving more than 800,000 adults and children every year. In fiscal year 2016, the GCFD distributed more than 70 million pounds of nonperishable food, produce, dairy products, and meat - the equivalent of more than 160,000 meals every day. Of the $96,883,955 spent in 2016, over 90% went to direct food distribution programs.
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Cradles to Crayons® (C2C®) is a non-profit organization that provides free clothes and other basic needs such as shoes, diapers, coats, and backpacks with school supplies to children living in homeless, poverty, and low-income situations for free. Cradles to Crayons began with its first Giving Factory® warehouse in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 2002. Cradles to Crayons expanded to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2006 and Chicago, Illinois, in 2016. In 2021, Cradles to Crayons launched its national online clothing donation platform Giving Factory Direct, serving children in NYC and San Francisco with direct donations from across the United States. Cradles to Crayons partners with corporations, community groups, service organizations, media outlets, sports teams, and other organizations in Chicagoland, Greater Philadelphia, Massachusetts, NYC, San Francisco, and across the U.S. Supporters donate clothing to clothes donation boxes. Then Cradles to Crayons volunteers sort and package the donations and provide them to children in need of clothing, shoes, diapers, and school supplies.
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