It has become a part of the Aurora holiday season as much as turkey and trimmings.
The Aurora Holiday Food Drive will start Nov. 1 and run through the day before Thanksgiving, this year Nov. 22.
It is designed to stock the shelves of the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry for the holiday season and beyond. And while the pantry serves thousands of clients in five area counties, organizers this year are breaking it down to something as individual as the dinner table in each household.
“Get room for one more at your table,” said Katie Arko, senior director of development at the pantry, citing this year’s slogan. “We’re putting it in terms of people who can’t afford food every week, let alone a holiday meal.”
The holiday drive is in its 16th year now, coming off what was one of the most successful food drives in its history last year. The 2022 drive raised a total of 11,374 pounds of groceries and more than $115,000.
Despite that, a similar effort is needed this year because the need has increased.
The pantry now serves about 1,200 families a week, about a 20% increase from this time last year. Put another way, the pantry served 63% more people during its recently completed fiscal year than it did the year before.
Because the pantry serves so many families, the largest single age group served are 18 years old and younger. But the pantry still serves many senior citizens and military veterans as well.
“We’re going through the food so quickly, there’s not a time when the shelves are overflowing,” Arko said.
Moreover, some money from last year has dried up. The pantry has been getting a yearly donation from the city of Aurora through its Quality of Life grants of $25,000. While that continues, another $25,000 the pantry received from COVID-19 relief funds will not be there.
The food drive still centers around three Aurora 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.
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 last year that Arko said “did really well.”
The pantry also takes monetary donations. The money is used to purchase food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and every $1 donated actually purchases $8 of food.
Both the virtual bags and any donations can be done online at aurorafoodpantry.org/donate. Monetary donations are also still 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 16th annual Holiday Food Drive is sponsored by Dolan & Murphy, Inc.; 95.9 The River; The Beacon-News; Aurora Fast Print; Douglas Carpet One; Gerald Subaru of Naperville; AC’s Pub; Jake’s Incorporated; and a new sponsor this year, Aurora Bank and Trust.
“At the pantry, we do not turn anyone away,” Arko said. “If our numbers go up, we’ve got to find a way to pay for it. The food drive is huge in allowing us to do that.”