Week 49 - St. Vincent's Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen

This week, Jen and I attended a wonderful Christmas concert at the St. Vincent de Paul church on the campus of DePaul University.  The concert, called Christmas at DePaul is a way for the church, the university and the surrounding community to come together and celebrate the Christmas season.  It is a magnificent concert with musicians from the university and a chorale made up of singers from local and university groups.  The church is accented by beautiful lighting inside and out.  It is a warm, wonderful way to prepare for Christmas, and the only admission fee is a request to donate to the food pantry and soup kitchen run by St. Vincent's parish.  Jen and I were not able to book any volunteer work this week, and so we happily donated to this very active pantry.

It is called the Mother Seton Food Pantry and Sandwich window, and it began in 1980 in a small room in the Parish center of the church.  The group points out that working poor families, parents of young children and the elderly make up a large portion of their clients, and they offer the following statistics:

- 39% of the households that receive food include at least one employed adult
- about 33% of the people served are children under the age of 18
- 10% of clients are aged 65 and older
- 25%  of households have at least one family member in poor health
- 10% of clients own the place where they live
- 9% of clients are homeless

The food pantry serves about 230 families every month, which translates into about 700 individuals per month or around 8,250 people per year.  Their service this year will expand to include DePaul University students who qualify for food assistance.

The soup kitchen is open six days per week, and serves about 125 meals per day, which adds up to 32,500 meals served in the last year.  The sandwich window serves about 30,000 sandwiches, 1,000 special holiday meals and 45,000 cups of coffee in a year.

St. Vincent's is in an area that does not seem like it should need a food pantry or soup kitchen.  The neighborhood is full of streets lined with large single family homes, and the university campus provides an ordered, scholarly backdrop.  There is money here.  The university has it.  The homeowners have it.  Even many of the students have it.  When you walk in the area, it feels like a place where everyone has enough, but that is sadly untrue.  This neighborhood is a perfect example of how pervasive the problem of food insecurity is.  40% of the population of Chicago either does not have enough to eat, or is in imminent danger of not having enough.  One in five people in our city go hungry at least some of the time, and they do not all live in the violent slums on the south side.  They are everywhere, including wherever you are.  I am always amazed when I see the lines at the Seton soup kitchen in the mornings on my way to the gym (across the street), but the reality is that people need help everywhere.

So it was a great way to kick off Christmas...  Hear a beautiful concert and help those in need.  I highly recommend either if you are looking to get into the Christmas spirit.

I usually post a web link to the organization website here, but the website for St. Vincent's does not seem to be working.  If you want information about the pantry, check back later as I will post a link if it becomes available, or call St.Vincent's Parish at (773) 325-8610.