Sente Kicks off March Food Drive

Donations will benefit the Vernon Township food pantry.

Area residents who want to help out the Vernon Township food pantry now have another drop-off location available. State Rep. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills) is hosting a food drive throughout the month of March to collect boxed goods, non-perishable items, and toiletries for the food pantry. “Too many families are struggling to make ends meet and stay warm during the winter months,” Sente said. “Every corner of this state has some families who have been hard hit by the economy. I encourage everyone to work together and lend some assistance to the food pantry, so that we can be there for our neighbors and keep our community strong.”  Toiletries such as toilet paper, toothpaste or shampoo, and food items such as boxed dinners, peanut butter and…

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Massive Food Drive Benefits Area Residents

Donations generated by an annual drive run by local volunteers and schools will benefit many this season.

Members of the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club, along with the Wheeling Rotary Club and area students, gathered Monday afternoon to assemble boxes of food that will be given to families in need. The boxes were packed with pasta, soup, canned fruits and vegetables and other non-perishables collected by the participants. Rotary members contributed some of the items, while others were donated by students at Cooper Middle School and Wheeling High School. The high school students added a community outreach component to the collection; they solicited donations from nearby residents last week and picked them up from homes over the weekend. The project has been annually for about 40 years, organizers said. "The need has grown bigger and the collections …

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Pay Library Fines with Food Donations

Do you owe late fees to the Vernon Area Library? You can pay down your debt this month with food.

Vernon Area Public Library patrons who owe fines for overdue materials can pay down their debt with canned goods and other nonperishable food donations during the library’s "Food for Fines" promotion in September. Through Sept. 30, patrons will receive a $1 reduction in their owed fines for each nonperishable food item donated at the library. Donated items will be brought to the Vernon Township Food Pantry and the Northern Illinois Food Bank by program partners Von Sydow’s Moving and Storage, Inc., and Move for Hunger. More than 2,900 food items were collected at last year’s Food for Fines program in October 2011. A list of "critically needed items" on the Northern Illinois Food Bank website suggests donations of canned or dried beans, …

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Bring Food Donations to the Buffalo Grove Days Parade

Buffalo Grove Chamber of Commerce members will collect food in shopping carts to benefit area pantries.

The Buffalo Grove Area Chamber of Commerce is asking Buffalo Grove Days parade spectators to help fill grocery carts with food donations. Chamber members will collect donations in grocery carts along the parade route. The parade begins at 1 p.m. Sept. 2 on Bernard Drive. Food donations will be delivered to local food pantries. Donations will also be accepted at the Chamber office during normal business hours from Sept. 6-30. For additional information, contact the Buffalo Grove Area Chamber of Commerce at (847) 541-7799.

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Post Office Aims to 'Stamp Out Hunger'

Leave non-perishable foods next to your mailbox on Saturday to help local food pantries.

As letter carrier John Thome loads his truck for the morning, he can’t help but think of the people he and other Postal Service employees will be helping this Saturday.  “There’s definitely a need as far as the food shortage goes,” Thome said. Thome, who works for the Barrington Post Office, calls local pantries to notify them of the upcoming drive.  “They’re always low. So many people are out of work. Any little thing we can do to help is worth its weight in gold," he said. On Saturday, May 12, the U.S. Postal Service, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and other organizations are teaming up to fight hunger for the 20th annual Stamp Out Hunger in America event. The Postal Service touts this is the nation’s largest single-day …

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About Town

Give-A-Thon Benefits Families in Need

Students at SHS donate and donate and donate to make this the greatest Give-a-thon yet!

The Stevenon High School students, families and teachers really know how to give, and it was evident as I was able to once again volunteer at this year's Give-a-thon. It’s the 27th at SHS, and each year the donations seem to surpass the prior year. According the SHS website, Give-a-thon represents spreading holiday cheer to the needy. Each year they have three succinct goals: 1. Provide holiday gifts for at least 200 Lake County families. 2. Donate enough food to stock the Vernon Area Food Pantry for six months. 3. Donate enough diapers, formula and young motherhood items to Lake County PADS to meet their needs for six months. With holiday music filling the Wood Commons, students came down and delivered the donations from their classes. …

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Community Comes Together to Help Struggling Families

Students from Cooper Middle School and Wheeling High School teamed up with the Buffalo Grove and Wheeling Rotary clubs for a holiday food drive.

Four hundred families will receive boxes of nonperishable food this weekend thanks to a food drive organized by students and Rotary members. Members of the Buffalo Grove and Wheeling Rotary clubs led the project in conjunction with Wheeling High School and Cooper Middle School. Wheeling’s Student Council ran an all-school food drive this month and collected donations from community members. Maritza Carvajal, Student Council secretary, said donations poured in as classes competed to amass the most items. Even more support came from Wheeling residents, who responded to fliers that students placed on their doors, asking that they contribute by leaving donations on their curbs on a designated pickup day. “The response was pretty good,” she …

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Pay Down Library Fines with Food

The Vernon Area Public Library is accepting nonperishable food donations in lieu of cash.

Vernon Area Public Library patrons who owe fines for overdue materials can pay down their debt with canned goods and other nonperishable food donations during the library’s “Food for Fines” promotion this month. Through Oct. 31, patrons will receive a $1 reduction in their owed fines for each nonperishable food item donated at the library. Donated items will be brought to the Vernon Township Food Pantry and the Northern Illinois Food Bank by program partners Graebel American Movers and Move for Hunger. More than 1,300 food items were collected at the library’s previous Food for Fines program in January. A list of "critically needed items" on the Northern Illinois Food Bank website suggests donations of canned or dried beans, canned tuna, …

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Stamp Out Hunger: The Largest Single-Day Food Drive in America is Saturday

Will the National Association of Letter Carriers top last year’s food drive totaling more than 77.1 million pounds of non-perishable goods? That’s up to you!

McDonald's restaurants may proudly boast “Over a Billion Served,” but the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) can say the same when it comes to pounds of food collected for the needy. Since 1993 the NALC has collected more than one billion pounds of food through its annual nationwide event, "Stamp Out Hunger" – America’s largest single-day food drive. This Saturday, more than 1,500 NALC branches from every state, involving more than 10,000 cities and towns, will have more than 230,000 letter carriers collect non-perishable goods from people’s mailboxes. Here in Branford, Pat Anderson of the Branford post office said all 40 carriers on staff will be collecting food for the Branford Food Pantry. Last year, Branford residents …

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Village Food Drive Runs Through April 22

United Way campaign will benefit local food pantries.

The Village of Buffalo Grove is participating in United Way's "Live United" food drive to benefit area food pantries. Donations can be dropped off at Village Hall between 8 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Monday and from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday through April 22. Requested items include unopened and non-expired cans and boxes of: Email info@vbg.org or call 847-459-2518 for more information.

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