MLK Day with CareTeam

As we and the nation honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the CareTeam encouraged an attitude of service through engaging volunteers in two events in Chicago and one in Pittsburg this Monday.

This week we were able to bring something special to our food pantry, TFC, with several raffle items. Each patron was able to take gift item in addition to their wealth of healthful food. Bulk sizes of everything from olive oil to rice were welcome treats. Organic kids blankets and toys were a big hit for kids and their moms loved the donated personal items!

Additionally, across town helpful volunteer hands were crafting over 400 Peace Doves as part of the DuSable Museum's Martin Luther King Day Celebration.

Children and families were invited to learn about King's legacy at the DuSable Museum and enjoy a craft with MGRF. Children colored and decorated paper dove with thoughts and quotes to have a keepsake from the day for their home.

A huge THANK YOU to our loyal and selfless volunteers! THANK YOU also to our wonderful participants and uplifting patrons.

We had a great day in Pittsburgh as well! We partnered with three other organizations to provide an all day event for the community; Union Project, Open Door, and PGH Task. The afternoon activities were designed for youth and the evening activities focused on families. Our role was to provide a community art making activity that would honor Dr. King and highlight his dream of the "Beloved Community".

We engaged 30 kids and youth ranging in age from 3 - 18. After discussing Dr. King, we came up with a series of images to depict the Beloved Community. These images were combined and worked into a mosaic design. The mosaic was spilt into 6 sections. When assembled, the entire piece was about 6' by 10' . . . pretty large!

Seniors, youth and other community members at the event help to add tiles into the mosaic as they watched youth performances, listened to Dr. King speeches, and jammed to the DJ. In all, about 400 people attended the event and most put at least one piece of the mosaic in place. It was amazing to see 3 year olds working with seniors and adults positively interacting with youth.

New Year for Service!

Today is our first TFC of 2010!

Today we serve MORE families than ever before. A year ago today we served 20-30 families and today we serve 40-60 families each week. We distributed over 4,000 bags of food in 2009. It has been a hard year for many our families, but a year of great collaboration and committment to strengthen one another through hard times that has led to much MORE...

We've had MORE support from individuals, businesses and donors making it possible to ensure all are served.

MORE volunteers - including regular students, retireees and professionals who have found a way to carve out some time (and even convinced their bosses to let them off work!) to serve those in need every week. THANK YOU!

MORE businesses - including Dave & Busters supporting our holiday services with supplemental food, turkeys and bulk dry goods. Starbucks supporting us each week with coffee. Nike providing us with athletic bags for Christmas gifts. THANK YOU!

MORE food - both Whole Foods and Trader Joes provide us with more fresh food than ever before. THANK YOU!

MORE caring - of CareTeam volunteers and their friends and families contributing books and toys as Christmas gifts for our families. THANK YOU!

MORE support - in late December we were made aware we received the Hendrickson grant to support our poverty services. This grant will support TFC, Art@DignityDiner and (g)love ensuring they are able to continue and expand their services. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!