Meal Packing Event

For the fifth year in a row, the Chamber is pleased to sponsor the annual Meal Packing event, offering members an opportunity to personally give back to the community and to help fight hunger right in our own backyard.  On Thursday, August 25, participants are asked to donate two hours of time to assemble 40,000 meals for distribution through area food pantries.  
    The Chamber is organizing the event through a partnership with Feed Six-Outreach, a charitable organization that specializes in mobile meal packing events.  Feed Six-Outreach will provide the ingredients for specially fortified macaroni and cheese dinner packets that will be filled, sealed and packed for delivery on a 10 – 12 person assembly line. Each packet will provide enough ingredients to feed 6 people.
    Held in ballroom space graciously donated by the Hilton Chicago Northbrook, the event will have lively music provided by local D.J. Charizma and light refreshments for workers at each shift.  Volunteers will enjoy the camaraderie and friendly competitiveness.   
    Members are encouraged to register for one of the two shifts, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m or 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.    At each shift volunteers will be assigned a single task, either measuring the ingredients, filling the plastic pouches, sealing them, or loading them into boxes for delivery.
    The Chamber is purchasing the supplies for the initial 40,000 meals, however additional contributions are very much appreciated and will make it possible to package even more meals.  At a cost of $.25 per meal, even a small $10.00 donation will add 40 meals to the total.  Advance donations are encouraged so that Outreach can plan ahead and provide enough supplies.
    To sign up for a shift or make a donation, please return the enclosed form to the Chamber office.  To make the experience available to as many members as possible, each business is asked to limit participants to no more than 10 employees per shift.  Should there be additional space, the Chamber will gladly accommodate additional volunteers.

Chamber and Sunset Foods Provide for Food Pantry
To help local families in need, the Chamber will again this year enter into a special partnership with Sunset Foods to boost resources at the Northfield Township Food Pantry.  Together, Sunset and the Chamber will make a single donation of $1,000 to help purchase badly needed items for the Food Pantry.  The Food Pantry, sustained entirely by donations, has experienced a 20% increase in need in the past year.  More than 700 local families rely on the organization for basic necessities. The check will be presented to officials from the Food Pantry at the Meal Packing Event.