(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Greater Chicago Food Depository serves some 800 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters and affects thousands of people each day. Officials with the organization say they and the hundreds of volunteers feel they are on a mission.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository is a sprawling complex on the Southwest side and Chief Operating Officer Jill Rahman says the mission is simple – and intricate. They are striving to end hunger – not reduce it – but end it.
At the Depository’s loading dock, she shows that there are a lot of moving parts.
“These orders are ready to go in the truck. So these lanes represent what will go into a truck. They will load in the morning. They will deliver, come back, and do it again two times during the day. And then they will be done.”
So what does Jill Rahman need people to know about the mission of the Greater Chicago Food Depository?
“It’s important that people understand the issue. Often food insecurity is not an issue that is visible to many people. There is unfortunately a stigma so sometimes people don’t want to talk about it. But it is real, and I will say it is solvable. And that’s part of the message that we want people to hear.”
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, this year, began a pilot program to deliver prepared meals to the most vulnerable of those they serve. They are sending out some three thousand means a day. But, the kitchen is capable of cooking and preparing ten thousand.
We visit the Greater Chicago Food Depository on our At Issue program this weekend and you can hear more at 9:30p.m. Sunday.
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