(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A South Side church blessed families in its community with hundreds of food boxes.
The Faith Community of St. Sabina is known for its ongoing contributions in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, education and employment programs, gun buybacks and other anti-violence efforts.
On Thursday, the church, located at 78th Street and Racine Avenue, provided hundreds of boxes of meat and fresh produce to nearby residents who might not otherwise find such items readily available.
“A lot of the places where people use to go grocery shop are the Mom-and-Pop stores that doesn't really have a variety of the fresh fruits and vegetables. It is more packaged goods, processed goods. This gives them a healthy alternative to that,” Phil Hunter with St. Sabina said.
Hundreds of people lined up hours before the scheduled noon delivery.
“People have been lining up since before nine o'clock this morning. As you can see, we got a line down here to the end of the alley. We also have a line of cars. We're doing a drive up and walk up. The line of cars is all the way down to 76th Street, last I looked,” Hunter said.
“So there is definitely need in the community.”
The intent goes beyond addressing economic food insecurity, with an increased demand on families during the summer months, with their children not receiving lunch and other snacks at school.
Hunter said the event will also help bring fresh meat and produce to the less mobile elderly in the community.
“So they rely on where they can get to, you know, if they're on public transportation or if they're walking, they have to rely on the convenience of it being close to them where they can get to it.”
Hunter said that some of this food, pallets stacked high and arriving by refrigerated box truck, is donated, but much of it is purchased by the church.
“So each person will get a box of fresh fruits and vegetables. They will get a package of beef and they get a package of chicken and a package of pasta.”
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