Our neighborhood house concert to benefit the Niles Township Food Pantry was last night. It was a great deal of fun and I highly suggest this as a fundraiser, awareness builder and all around good time! We had tremendous hosts and a great group of people. Justin Roth was our talent for the evening. A brilliant musician, a generous person, and someone who just couldn't be a nicer guy all around. Here is where you can find his music, by the way:
http://www.myspace.com/justinrothmusic
He generously went 50/50 with us on his usual fee which allowed us to raise about $200 for the pantry in addition to the mound of food taking over my guest room that people dropped off throughout the week. It was a small affair due to weather and illness, but many donations were sent in beforehand and the intimate group was very fun. My favorite part of the evening (besides drinking with friends, seeing a favorite musician live and up close, etc) was passing out a thank you note with food pantry facts on it and hearing people in conversation groups saying things like "Oh my God...I had no idea!" Here are the facts:
• In July ‘07, support from the Greater Chicago Food Depository went from 8,000# of food per month to 2,000# due to a huge reduction in federal aid.
• NTFP supports about 900 households (1600 individuals)
• There were almost 100 new families per month in the latter part of 2007
• 1,500 cans of food only lasts about two days
• The vast majority of community support comes in the Nov and Dec. Donations in the other 10 months are almost non-existent.
• NTFP supports people in Niles, Skokie, Morton Grove, Glenview and Lincolnwood.
• The pantry is located at 5255 Main Street in Skokie.
Thank you to everyone who participated and donated!
No comments:
Post a Comment