Volunteers needed for Aurora food drive
AURORA -- Sunday is the kickoff of the second annual citywide Holiday Food Drive to benefit the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry.
As it did last year, the drive will begin Nov. 1 and continue until the day before Thanksgiving.
(Beacon-News File)
This year, the drive has been expanded to include two local grocery stores. Cermak Fresh Market, 1250 N. Lake St., will join Prisco's Fine Foods, 1108 Prairie St., as the two main stations for the drive.
There also will be plenty of smaller food drives and volunteer efforts throughout the community by service clubs, organizations, unions, schools, churches, businesses and individuals.
At both Cermak and Prisco's, volunteers will assemble $5, $10 and $15 prepackaged bags. People visiting the stores can buy any combination of the bags, which will be collected at the store and sent to the pantry.
At Cermak, the bags will contain predominantly Hispanic foods. Marilyn Weisner, Interfaith Food Pantry director, said about 45 to 50 percent of food from the pantry goes to Hispanics. These donations expand the variety of ethnic foods, said Cheryl Kessler, of Dolan & Murphy Inc., the main organizer of the drive.
Radio station 95.9-FM "The River" will have remote broadcasts from both Prisco's and Cermak to kick off the drive Sunday. They will do nine two-hour broadcasts from locations throughout the month.
To help make the Cermak location work, Kessler said food drive organizers are looking for more volunteers who can speak Spanish.
"The majority of the customers there speak Spanish, so it would be nice," Kessler said. "But the fliers will be in English and Spanish, so anyone who wants to help can."
Volunteers are needed particularly during store busy hours, such as at lunch time, after work and on weekends.
"Last year, volunteers just came out," she said. "We've been having a harder time this year, but we'll get it."
Kessler said they also need volunteers to work at the warehouse from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, from Nov. 9 until the first week of December.
As many as 20 to 30 volunteers are needed for each warehouse night, Kessler said.
Those interested in helping can call Kessler at Dolan & Murphy at 630-801-8800, ext. 109, or e-mail her at ckessler@dolanmurphy.com.
The food drive began last year when Dan Dolan, of Dolan & Murphy, brought the concept to Aurora from Bloomington, where an annual drive that started 15 years ago has blossomed into one of the biggest food drives in the country.
Last year in the Fox Valley, 1,358 of the preassembled bags were purchased at Prisco's, a $13,065 donation of food.
And there were many donations from smaller drives. For instance, three Burger King locations in the Aurora area gave out free Whoppers for several days to anyone who made a donation to the food pantry. They will do that again this year. Chili's on Aurora's West Side already held a day when a percentage of food purchased went as a donation to the pantry.
The same sponsors of the drive are on board this year. They are Dolan & Murphy Inc.; 95.9 "The River" radio; Cano Container Corp.; Prisco's Fine Foods; Douglas Carpet One and Big Bob's; and The Beacon-News.
