The 17th annual Aurora Holiday Food Drive is moving into its final days, and organizers said this year’s drive is slightly behind the pace from last year.
“We are asking the community to give what they can to help those who are less fortunate, and we are grateful for every penny donated, and every can purchased from one of the stores,” said Katie Arko, executive director of the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry.
The drive is designed to stock the shelves of the pantry, which serves 1,300 families in a given week.
Hundreds of volunteers and staff hours have been poured into the campaign, Arko said, which takes place at three participating grocery stores: Prisco’s Family Market, 1108 Prairie St., Aurora; Cermak Fresh Market, 1250 N. Lake St., Aurora; and La Chiquita, 1525 Douglas Road, Montgomery.
Arko added that smaller, local food drives organized by social clubs, neighborhoods, churches, school groups and others add to the donations during the overall Holiday Food Drive.
Arko pointed to one volunteer, Dan Dolan, who is considered the godfather of the Holiday Food Drive. Dolan created the idea for the drive 17 years ago, and, along with his family, he “gives his heart, soul, time and energy into helping the pantry every year,” Arko said.
“He spends time writing letters to raise money, goes to the grocery stores to pack bags, hands out flyers to customers at the stores, makes phone calls and utilizes his social media network to help with the cause,” she said.
The drive began Nov. 1 and runs through Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Depending on how each store does it, people can buy packaged bags of groceries of $5, $10, $15 and $20 as they go through the checkout line during normal shopping.
They also can buy a $20 virtual bag online, a feature added two years ago.
The pantry also takes monetary donations. The money is used to purchase food from the Geneva-based Northern Illinois Food Bank, and every $1 donated actually purchases $8 of food.
Both the virtual bags and the monetary donations can be done at the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry website, https://www.aurorafoodpantry.org/.
Monetary donations also still are taken the old-fashioned way, with checks mailed to the pantry at 1110 Jericho Road, Aurora, IL, 60506. Checks should be made out to Aurora Food Pantry.
The food drive also depends on volunteers who help in a number of ways, including passing out flyers promoting the drive at the participating grocery stores.
Ways to volunteer are also at the pantry’s website. Individuals and families often volunteer, but so do many businesses, churches, Scouting and student groups and other organizations.
From to 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, one of those organizations, a fifth-grade Girl Scout troop from Freeman Elementary School, was scheduled to be at Prisco’s Family Market in Aurora, handing out flyers, bringing holiday cheer and encouraging people to buy a bag of groceries to donate to the pantry.
“This is the third year in a row that this troop has volunteered to help the pantry,” Arko said.
Sponsors of the Aurora Holiday Food Drive are Dolan and Murphy, Inc. real estate; Konen Insurance; Gerald Subaru of North Aurora; AuraLight Dispensary; Douglas Carpet One; Aurora Bank & Trust; Bob’s Discount Furniture; Oak St. Health; AC’s Pub; Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward; The Beacon-News; Aurora Fastprint; Prisco’s Family Market; Cermak Fresh Market; La Chiquita; and 95.9 The River.
