South Loop Food Pantry looks for volunteers

To download a flyer, click here.

South Loop Community Church Food Pantry, 1347 S. State St., is looking for volunteers to help with their food pantry and clothes closet ministries. The church will be holding a brief introduction meeting on volunteer opportunities, Wednesday July 16, 2014 at 7:15 p.m.

In operation for over two years, the food pantry serves between 85 and 100 walk-ins every week. If you’re looking for a way to serve or give back to your community, volunteering at the food pantry might be for you. The food pantry needs volunteers on Saturday mornings, when food distribution takes place, as well as during the week to help with accepting food deliveries and restocking shelves.

Food distribution is every Saturday, 9-11 a.m. Three times a month, the pantry also offers fresh produce.
The clothes closet distributes clothes and accessories for men, women, and children twice a month. The clothes closet operates the second and third Saturdays of every month during the food distribution. After food pantry clients get their food, they can look at clothing.

The food pantry has partnered with local businesses, like Overflow Coffee Bar, Marianos, Pret A Manger, and Urban Remix, and community organizations like Greater South Loop Association (GSLA). The GSLA contributed $1000 to the help the pantry buy turkeys last year for Thanksgiving baskets.

For more information, visit the church’s Web site or contact them via e-mail at southloopcommunitychurch@gmail.com or call the church office at 312.566.9076.

For a look at how the food pantry operates, check out this post from local South Loop blogger Bonnie McGrath.

Happy New Year from the SLCC Food Pantry!

We’re looking forward to serving the South Loop and Chicago communities in 2014. We’re very grateful for all the volunteers through the year, as well as the businesses and organizations that have assisted us.

This Saturday, January 4, 2014, we’ll be distributing food and fresh produce from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Christmas Toy Store

Volunteers get gifts ready for the toy store.

This year we had a Christmas Toy Store for two weeks during the operation of the food pantry. We had new toys for girls and boys for modest prices, many well below their original cost. The prices for toys ranged from a low of $1 to a high of $5; no toy was priced higher. Customers were able to buy up to five gifts during one visit to the toy store. We also had gift-wrapping available for those who requested it. We were delighted to have people from the neighborhood volunteer to help at the toy store, including several members of the Greater South Loop Association board. The GSLA helped us provide turkeys and fixings for our Thanksgiving food distribution by giving the pantry a generous donation of $1000. We distributed 120 turkeys on November 23, 2013.

Gift wrapping was available at the toy store.

Thank you, neighbors!
Thanks to Overflow Coffee Bar—Overflow has been a partner with the food pantry from the very start. Their have a food donation basket has been a constant source of nonperishable food items throughout the year. They just don’t sell great coffee, they’re great neighbors.

We also want to thank our wonderful volunteers. We have a regular group of volunteers from the surrounding area, including the folks from the Loop Church. Located at the Daystar Center, their members have been very generous with their time and donations of food—they help that food pantry basket at Overflow, well, overflowing! We also want to thank our regular volunteers from South Loop Community Church, the high school and college students, as well as the many folks that help us behind the scenes working with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, placing orders and keeping a check on inventory. A special thank you goes to food pantry coordinator, Rosa Ellis.

Clothes Ministry
We also want to thank those who help with the clothes ministry that operates during food pantry hours on the second and third Saturdays of the month. The clothes ministry offers clothes and accessories, free of charge, for men, women, and children. We want to extend a big thank you to clothes ministry coordinator Daisy Bell for all her hard work.

Daisy Bell and Rosa Ellis pose in front of some of the toys available at
the Christmas Toy Store.

Volunteer opportunities

We’re always in need of volunteers. There are opportunities to help during food distribution and with food deliveries during the month. If you think you’d like to volunteer, please click on the tab that says “Donate & Volunteer” at the top of the page.

New Year, new challenges, new thanks

Student volunteers interact with food pantry clients

With January winding down, the SLCC Food Pantry is thankful for how far we’ve come in a relatively short time. This March will mark the pantry’s first-year anniversary. The pantry serves those in need, in the South Loop with nourishing food, every Saturday, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. When we took on the challenge of serving the community on a weekly basis, we weren’t sure how we were going to do it. We had a limited budget and few volunteers.

Sandwiches and salads donated by Pret A Manger

We took a leap of faith. We survived that first week, and the next, and the next. More people started to volunteer. People and organizations started donating food and money. Students from area high schools and colleges started asking if they could volunteer. Businesses like Pret A Manger, Panera Bread, and Dunkin’ Donuts provided us with day-old food items. Local community organization, Greater South Loop Association provided us with funds to purchase turkeys and hams for distribution during the holidays. Local business, Overflow Coffee Bar donated a percentage of their sales to the pantry. Overflow’s biggest contribution, however, was acting as a food drop-off locations. Patrons of Overflow have donated pounds of food almost ever week for months, which has been an enormous help and encouragement. We even had a visit from local food truck entrepreneur, GiGi’s Bake Shop!

Bags of food and volunteers at the ready

As we get closer to our anniversary date, we’re looking to expand our outreach by offering clothing (a need for some of our clients) along with food. More about this in the future.

The South Loop Community Church Food Pantry wants to give a big “thank you” to our friends and neighbors for helping us along the way!

To find out how you can help, please click on the “Donation and Volunteer Opportunities” tab above.

Neighborhood organization and local business contribute to pantry

Neighbors helping neighbors
The Greater South Loop Association and Overflow Coffee Bar have contributed funds for the South Loop Community Church Food Pantry. The GSLA donated $500 from entry donatations taken in during the 2012 Bash on Wabash. Overflow Coffee Bar donated a percentage of sales from their Ten Thousand Villages items they sell and feature every Saturday at the coffee bar. Since the food pantry operates with a very small budget, provided by South Loop Community Church,

donations are really appreciated and necessary for us to provide nourishing food to those in need in the South Loop.







Give thanks
Next time you’re at Overflow Coffee Bar or attend a GSLA meeting, please thank them for supporting the food pantry. You can find the GSLA and Overflow on Facebook and Twitter. Here are their respective links: GLSA on Facebook, Twitter; Overflow on Facebook, Twitter.