Patch Holiday Food Drive In Oak Lawn: Give To Feeding America

OAK LAWN, IL — Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, predicted this would happen as millions of Americans lost their jobs, their paychecks and even their businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic: Hunger is an urgent problem for about 785,000 people in Cook County.

In Oak Lawn, 19 percent of the population of 56,420 is at risk of food insecurity, according to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. That breaks down to 10,466 residents at risk of food insecurity or 1,221 residents per square mile.

You can help. Patch and Feeding America teamed last summer to address the growing hunger crisis in America, connecting readers with the organization’s 200 member food banks that serve 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, and providing an easy way to donate money to help their neighbors.

Now through Dec. 31, we’re encouraging readers to make a tax-deductible contribution to Feeding America in the Patch Holiday Food Drive. Every $1 given to the organization buys 10 meals.

Local resources include:

Pilgrim Faith United Church of Christ, 9411 S. 51st St., Oak Lawn. It’s open 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday and Saturday. Registration is required. All are invited. Limited to one visit per month, per household. Serving residents in Oak Lawn, Hometown, Worth, Burbank, Chicago Ridge and Alsip. Make a donation. Contact pantry coordinator Leece Nicol at xdrthunder@aol.com

Oak Lawn Community Church, part of the Greater Chicago Food Depository network. Distributes food noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday out of the Bridgeview Community Center, 7902 S. Oketo Ave., Bridgeview. Offers meat and produce. Accepts SNAP recipients. Call 708-599-4025.

Calvary Church, 10056 Central Ave., Oak Lawn. 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday. No registration required. 708-429- 2200.

Worth Township Food Pantry, 11601 S. Pulaski Ave., Alsip. 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday; 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday. One visit per month, per household. Available to Worth Township residents. Select from menu of offerings.

For more local resources, visit the Village of Oak Lawn.

Feeding America predicted last summer that 50 million people, including 17 million children, could face hunger by year’s end because of the pandemic. Feeding America projects the food insecurity rate in Cook County will rise to 15.3 percent in 2020, up from 10.1 percent in 2018.

Feeding America says that 80 percent of its food banks — or 4 in 5 — are serving more people than they were at the same time last year. With the pandemic worsening during the holiday season, many people who never before worried about how they’d pay for a holiday meal are turning to food banks for the first time.

From the beginning of the pandemic in March, Feeding America distributed 4.2 billion meals — enough to provide every U.S. resident with breakfast, lunch and dinner for just over four days.

In the first four months of the pandemic, 4 in 10 people were first-time visitors to food banks, according to Feeding America.

How To Support The Patch Holiday Food Drive

Patch has teamed with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 50 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.