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!

Successful ART @ Dignity Diner Opening!

The art show hosted by Dignity Diner and MGRF's CareTeam was a success! Friday November 6th, Dignity Diner and the CareTeam opened the doors of the Holy Covenant UMC to the neighborhood and other supportors to show off the wonderful work our artists do each week. Annually, the CareTeam organizes an art show to showcase Dignity Diner patrons and their artwork.

Many of the artists were able to interact with members of the community and talk about their art. Additionally, most sold some of their pieces! For a chance to get your own originial art from Dignity Diner, please see our Etsy.com page at http://www.etsy.com/shop/dignitydinerart.

Through the generous support of Northside Prep, we furnished 5 doors with artwork. Following the theme of 'home' artwork was also displaying on coat racks, chairs and coffee tables. We invited our guests to see what a typical Diner table looks like, to join us in creating a community art piece and to read short biographies of the artists.

Work that was not purchased Friday evening is available on the ART @ Dignity Diner Etsy page at http://www.etsy.com/shop/dignitydinerart. Your support of both artists and the Diner is greatly appreciated. For more information about ART @ Dignity Diner and other CareTeam events, please visit http://www.mgrf.org/careteam.

CareTeam & CPS

In addition to our Summer of Service Program we are so thankful for the opportunities to blend our volunteer events with Service Learning Curriculum happening at Chicago Public High Schools throughout the school year.

In our events dealing with Hunger & Homelessness we've had great new connections with young Service Leaders in our programs and a lot of new thank-yous!

Thank YOU to,

• Northside College Prep for hosting a Day of Service and including both our (g)love program and Dignity Diner programs in your day. Students were able to support the programs at their school site.
• Students & Leaders of the Mather High School Debate Team for joining us each week at Dignity Diner Art.
• DuSable Campus Community School for bringing (g)love to their afterschool fashion design program.

We are thankful for the opportunities to invite your student's voices into our programs and provide them with real-life experiences that round-out their classroom study.

Preparing for ART @ Dignity Diner

Together with Dignity Diner, our patrons and other support, we are in the process of planning and preparing for the gallery opening featuring ART @Dignity Diner.

Every Tuesday evening, patrons are invited to be our guests at a sit-down vegetarian dinner. Following the meal, Dignity Diner patrons and volunteers connect through a variety of art activities. Annually, the CareTeam organizes an art show to showcase Dignity Diner patrons and their artwork.

The images within this post are a small sampling of the work featured in our upcoming show. At right is an image from a recent photography project. Also included is an image of a recent painting. A copy of a poem written by a third patron is found below.

As always, CareTeam events are free to attend! There will be light refreshments and the evening will include a silent auction of artists' work. The Diner also greatly appreciated donations of powered drink mix, paper products and bottled salad dressing.

Join us Friday November 6th from 6-9pm in the Community Space of Holy Covenant United Methodist Church at 925 W Diversey. Easily accesible from Diversey Brown Line, #8 Halsted, #22 Clark, #36 Broadway.

"our love is but a fortress"

our love is but a fortess

against indifference and

the climate of change

our love is a border against

invasion by zealots

our love is a defense

against those who wish to

deny the power of love

our love is the ultimate

weapon

our love is the solution to

war

ultimately our love is

greater than war

yet in the end love

surrenders to war

to the end hate is a

stronger emotion than

love

because love takes

more energy than hate.

Dignity Diner Art Opening - November 6th

Every Tuesday evening at 6pm, Chicago’s homeless and hungry are invited to be our guests for a sit-down vegetarian dinner at Holy Covenant UMC’s Dignity Diner. Following the meal at 7pm, Dignity Diner patrons and volunteers connect weekly with a variety of art activities.

Join us Friday, November 6th for our 3rd Art Opening entitled “At 7 O’Clock We ART.” View the work of our Dignity Diner artists as they reveal their unique perspectives on identity and Chicago life.

dignity diner art opening
friday, november 6th
6-9pm at 925 w. diversey

FREE to attend! Light refreshments will be served.
Donations of paper products, bottled salad dressing or powdered drink mixes appreciated.
Additional showing Tuesdays 6-7 through November

Presented by the MGR Foundation and Dignity Diner
questions? contact cassie@mgrf.org or call 773.313.0075

Julian HS Student Recognized by Obama for Service - Featured in Essence Magazine

Shantell Steve, a student at Julian, was highlighted in President Obama’s address to schools on September 8. She’s standing in front of our Summer of Service and Leadership banner for a photo that accompanies an “Essence” article. Shantell helped with the Summer of Service program this summer and is also a Harris Fellows student leader!

See the Essence article here! http://bit.ly/KKGDe

The MGR Foundation implemented the Service Experiences for Summer of Service & Leadership for Julian HS and seven other CPS high schools.

Getting Ready for a Little (g)love

As the temperature drops in Chicago, we are already seeing our patrons come into our food pantry and dignity diner with coats on. Which leads us to prepare for one of our major winter events: (g)love.

Preparations have well and begun and we're happy to report several bits of exciting news!

The Headwear Association, celebrating over 100 years of promoting hats and headwear awareness worldwide has pledged to donate hats to (g)love as part of their third annual Headwear for the Homeless holiday campaign. We are very excited to have their support and donation of headwear for the homeless of Chicago.

Additionally, CVS also has supported (g)love as they have pledged in-kind product through a gift card donation. We utilize CVS products such as hand sanitizer in every CarePack.

Our third bit of (g)love news for 2009/2010 season is that we have our first Handmade with (g)love hat. We have a goal this season of 200 handmade hats, and if you would like more information about handmade with (g)love, please click here.

While we hate to see summer go - we look forward to the start of (g)love and are thankful for the support and community engagement we've already seen preceding (g)love 2009/2010.

For more information about (g)love, visit http://careteam.mgrf.org/glove.html