Story posted Thursday, November 19, 2009
Village, Township Rally To Provide Meals
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
Elk Grove residents may have come late this year, but they did come through with donations to the village and township food pantries for their annual Thanksgiving Adopt-A-Family programs.
The Elk Grove Village program will deliver full holiday meals to 65 families today (Thursday) during regular distribution at Elk Grove Presbyterian Church, located at Tonne Road and Elk Grove Boulevard.
The program, run by the village's community services department, has more than doubled distribution from 30 families served last year.
The township program, that services areas of Elk Grove Village, Arlington Hts., Des Plaines Mt. Prospect and Rolling Meadows, will deliver full holiday meals to 40 families this week, up slightly from last year.
Township General Assistance Director Julie Villarreal said the fate of the township's Thanksgiving program was in jeopardy earlier this year with a significant drop in donations.
After several stories on the program ran in the Journal & Topics Newspapers, Villarreal said donations began pouring in, but differently than in years past.
Both Villarreal and Elk Grove Village Community Services Coordinator Linda Blair said in past years the Adopt-A-Family programs would be a one-to-one donation. This year because of a sagging economy, donations have been smaller but there have been more of them, taking more than one donation to fill the needs of one family.
Both organizations also benefited from several large donations that helped supplement individual donors.
After Journal reports said the township program was in jeopardy, an anonymous donor came through with a $1,000 donation to the township. Later, a local Mejier store sponsored a giving program and matched customers' donations to the township pantry.
The village program benefited from a $1,300 gift from Elk Grove Village firefighters and their union.
Because of the fire department donation, the village pantry will be giving away $20 gift cards with the meals today.
The township and village also have Christmas Adopt-A-Family programs. The township provides a full holiday meal for families and gifts, books and clothing for the kids in those families.
This year because of the economy, donations have been split for Christmas from the old one-to-one model with some purchasing just food for a family and some purchasing gifts, books or coats.
The village Adopt-A-Family Christmas program will only give full meals to 25 families that have children. Other pantry clients will receive gift cards.
Both pantries are struggling to keep pace with increased demand. Villarreal said the township pantry has decreased the amount of food it gives each client. Earlier this year Blair said the village pantry decreased distributions from once a week to twice a month to deal with increased demand.
Both women said November and December is the time they see the most donations, but they expect those donations to drop after the holidays in January and February. Those families will still be in need after the holidays.
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