Plainfield Restaurant Donates Lunches; Schools Support Students

PLAINFIELD, IL — Sam Doleh, owner of Savino’s Beef and Gyro in Plainfield, decided the minute he heard that school was going to be canceled because of the coronovirus that he needed to do something.

“What happened was, as soon as I heard the kids' schools are closed, the first thing that popped into my head is that whoever depends on the school lunch, they are going to be out of those meals,” he said.

So, he made a decision to provide lunches for free. He posted to Facebook and that post was shared more than 3,000 times.

“Growing up, I was one of those students that depended on school lunch,” Doleh said. “We had a restaurant growing up and I remember me and my dad passing out food to the homeless.”

This week, March 23 to March 27, is spring break for many area schools. However, Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 spring break was scheduled for March 30 to April 3, so Director of Community Relations Tom Hernandez said the district reached out into the community for help.

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“We are so incredibly just awed and grateful for the kindness that people are showing,” he said. “We have spent a long time talking about divisiveness in this country and in our communities.
It’s amazing how people pull together when chips are down.”

Doleh said he has been giving out lunches to those who came in and asked all week last week. He fed 25 on Friday alone. More than that, though, Doleh was contacted by Bags of Hope, a community group that provides free lunches once a week to students in need, They mostly serve students in Plainfield and Lockport.

Before the stay-at-home order was given by Gov. J.B. Prizker on March 20, Saviano’s was going to serve as a distribution point for lunches for Bags of Hope for the week of March 23 to 27. Instead, those meals will end up being delivered. Stephanie Jerabek, secretary for Bags of Hope who also serves on its board of directors, said Bags of Hope is currently working with another organization and believes she has enough volunteers to distribute the food.

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She said those delivering the meals will have no face-to-face contact with the people.

“They will just leave them on the front porch,” Jerabek said.

Bags of Hope gives backpacks with food to students who are identified by their school social workers. They primarily serve students in Plainfield and Lockport because Joliet schools generally use a similar program from Northern Illinois Food Bank. Ordinarily, the students receive the bags of food on Friday, so they do not go a whole weekend without food to eat.

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School staff in the area have also been giving out lunches to the students who need them on the days they would have ordinarily been in school.

On March 20, Hernandez said the district served a total of 802 breakfasts and lunches. On Tuesday the number was in the 200s and on Wednesday in the 400s. So each day, the number of lunches distributed doubled. Bus drivers from the district contracted First Student delivered 114 meals. During that week, Bags of Hope delivered an additional 140 meals that went home with students on Monday.

Bags of Hope is funded through United Way of Will County. But because Bags of Hope uses traditional grocery stores just like the general public, they are running into shortages.

“On average, it costs about $12 a bag,” Jerabek said. “We have a standing order with a local grocery store, but unfortunately they have canceled our order.”

To that end, Jerabek said the organization needs food donations more than cash right now.

To donate to Bags of Hope or to inquire about volunteering opportunities, email bagsofhope2016@gmail.com.

“Our biggest need right now is food,” Jerabek said. “If (readers) go on our Facebook page, there is actually a list of where they can drop off and what we need.
We need the physical food to be able to feed the kids.”