Irving Park Community Food Pantry

As is tradition, the Irving Park Community Food Pantry will provide special holiday meal provisions to its clients during November (for Thanksgiving) and December (for the winter holidays). Due to the pandemic and a lack of accessibility, we are asking for only monetary contributions to purchase the specific items needed in bulk while reducing interactions. Donations can be made via PayPal at www. irvingparkfoodpantry.org or mailed to the Pantry at 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., Chicago IL 60618. You can mark them for Holiday Programs if you want to ensure your donation is used for those items specifically. Send your questions to info@irvingparkfoodpantry.org.

Our traditional Holiday Gift program for clients’ children up to 12 years old also will be done as it was last year, with specific gift donations requested. These will be packed into stockings and given out by age group. Please watch the Pantry’s Facebook and Instagram pages for details of what we need for each age. Typically, we provide gifts to about 300 children.

Holiday Gift program coordinator Sara Yoest shows off the stockings given to all clients’ children up to 12 years old during last year’s gift program. Photo by Craig Shutt.

Article submitted by Craig Shutt (773-282-3627; craigshutt@ameritech.net). John Psiharis, Executive Director, Irving Park Community Food Pantry e-mail: info@irvingparkfoodpantry.org, | www.irvingparkfoodpantry.org.

The Pantry will be closed on November 24th and December 22nd and 29th so our volunteers can celebrate the holidays with their families.

We are pleased to say the Greater Chicago Food Depository has named the Irving Park Food Pantry and its staff and volunteers a Pandemic Hero for remaining open every week to serve our clients during the tumultuous past 18 months. The challenges included evolving pandemic safety protocols, delayed or canceled deliveries, electrical outages, blizzards, lightning-storm damage, and the ongoing search for suppliers who can provide scarce food items.

Client Services Coordinator Elvia Esparza and Executive Director John Psiharis show the Pandemic Hero award the Pantry received from the Greater Chicago Food Depository for finding ways to serve its clients (and many more) during the past 18 months of the pandemic. Photo by Craig Shutt.

The Pantry continues to provide coats to its clients each Wednesday through November 17th (and the evening of Tuesday, November 9th); we still are accepting new or gently used winter coats along with winter hats, scarves, and gloves. Please don’t donate sweaters, sweatshirts, shoes, or other types of light clothing. Coat donations can be dropped off at various locations throughout the community, including the front porch at 3822 N. Tripp Ave. (drop off any time), both Disney II schools and the Big Helper store at 4184 N. Elston Ave. (drop off from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday). We are proud of our volunteers’ commitment and are pleased to continue to meet our mission of being “Neighbors Helping Neighbors.”

Coat-drive volunteers (l-r): Vivian Thomas, Julie Tye, Nathan Stalder, Megan Stalder, and Renee Linnemeyer show off some of the coats given out in 2019, the last time the drive was held. This year’s coat drive continues through November 17th. Photo by Craig Shutt.