Rotary Club Launches Community Food Drive, Needs Your Help

Residents have the opportunity to help stock the pantries of some of their less fortunate neighbors this fall through a community-wide food drive organized by the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club.

Residents can find collection boxes at the Buffalo Grove Village Hall, Buffalo Grove Fitness Center, Buffalo Grove Police Department, the Buffalo Grove Park District’s Alcott Center, the Wheeling Park District fitness center, The Continental Restaurant and four Edward Jones offices — three in Buffalo Grove and one in Wheeling.

“There are plenty of people who don’t have enough to eat,” food drive chairman Dennis Snyder said. 

In the past, food donations have been collected at local schools. This year, the Rotary Club is reaching out to the greater community.

“We’re trying to make sure each family gets more food," Snyder said.

The Buffalo Grove and Wheeling Rotary clubs, along with their district, will contribute between $4,000 and $5,000 to purchase items for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, including a gift card to be used to buy a turkey, for about 150 local families, Snyder said.

Contributions from community members will be given to those same families to help stock their pantries for the winter, he said. Any nonperishable food items, such as pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, beans, rice, macaroni and cheese, soup, stuffing mix, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, can be deposited in the collection boxes. 

The club will also accept monetary donations to benefit the project. Checks payable to Rotary Club of Buffalo Grove, with “food baskets” on the memo line, can be mailed to the club at P.O. Box 5062, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089.

The food drive runs through Nov. 19. Donations will be divided among recipients and delivered before Thanksgiving, Snyder said. Interact Club members at Buffalo Grove and Stevenson high schools will help sort and deliver the food.

The collection boxes — as well as the boxes that will be delivered to the recipients — were donated by Buffalo Grove’s Suddath Relocation Services, Snyder said.