Food Drive
Non-Food Items People who have trouble buying food have trouble buying other necessities. Many of the most critically needed are hygiene products of various kinds, things that are necessary for maintaining a decent quality of life. If you can buy these items from a local merchant, you will, according to Local First Chicago, put more dollars back into your community, create and preserve local jobs, and reduce your carbon footprint. diapers (any size And if you want to add a little grace to someone's life, you can donate tea, coffee or spices. |
Local Foods Buying food locally supports sustainability in so many ways. It eliminates the environmental cost of shipping food thousands of miles. Because locally grown food does not need to be hybridized to survive that kind of shipping, heirloom and other varieties can be chosen for their flavor and nutrition. Buying local supports local growers, processors and retailers and thereby supports the economy of the region where you live. And, of course, the food is fresh and delicious. Even in winter, farmers markets are a great source of local food. Click here for a complete list of winter farmer's markets in Chicagoland. |
Preserved Foods There's a lot of great nutrition in things that have been canned or dried. They are usually processed at their peak, so they are often more nutritious than off-season produce, and a lot more sustainable than fruits or vegetables flown halfway around the world. Fortunately, they are also good for food drives. Canned fruits and vegetables The best choices are fruits canned in fruit juice instead of syrup, and low-sodium vegetables. Organic is great. There is, however, one more issue. Most cans containing fruits and vegetables are lined with bisphenol-A, a plastic and resin ingredient and a major building block for polycarbonate (PC) plastics. Even at low doses, BPA has been linked to cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, obesity, and insulin resistance, which can lead to Type II diabetes. Information about bisphenol-A Clearly, one route to go is foods canned in glass, as they would be at home. You can often find these at winter farmers' markets and, for some products, in the grocery store (white beans, peaches, beets, apple sauce). Tomato sauce is easy to find in glass. Also, one organic food company, Eden Foods, cans all its non-acid foods--beans, chili, rice and beans--in cans that are NOT BPA lined. Unfortunately it is currently against FDA rules to can acidic foods in cans that are not BPA lined. But Eden is now putting tomatoes in amber glass jars. Information about canned food nutrition Dried fruits and vegetables |
Non-Perishable Protein The top of the list of wanted items at most food banks and pantries is non-perishable protein. It's not an easy thing to find. The usual suspects are canned fish and chicken, and peanut butter. Canned fish and meat It's difficult to get tuna that has been caught sustainably--although it can be done--and there doesn't seem to be anything like sustainable canned chicken or ham. However, canned salmon is highly sustainable. It's almost all wild salmon, and it's less expensive than you might think. We've even seen it on the shelves of dollar stores and discount stores. Information about choosing canned tuna Peanut butter Natural peanut butter with no hydrogenated oils and no sugar is a great choice for a donation. And its sustainability rating is high, high, high, simply because it is plant-based. However, there are a lot of kids out there with peanut allergies, so other kinds of nut butters could be a lifesaver for some families. Information about peanut butter Quinoa This South American seed is good in any dish where you usually use rice or couscous, but it is not a grain. It contains whole protein, making it really valuable to vegans, vegetarians and any others who are trying to increase the percentage of plant-based foods in their diets. At this point, it is somewhat more expensive than rice--$2 to $4 per pound, depending on where you shop--but less expensive, from every standpoint, than meat. |
Presented by Mike Nowak's "The Mike Nowak Show" and
Mike Sanders' "Our Town."
December 1 through December 11WCPT listeners in general--and the people who tune in to these two Sunday morning shows in particular--are aware of the needs of their neighbors all year long. The holiday season, though, seems to deepen our empathy and inspire us to help not only through political action but in immediate and tangible ways.
This year, Mike Nowak, Mike Sanders (Our Town) and WCPT are organizing a food drive to help those in our city who suffer most from the vagaries of the economy and to do it in an environmentally positive way. We are partnering with Faith in Place, an organization that works with people of all faiths to help them become better stewards of the earth. There will be food collection sites across Chicago, the Northwest Suburbs and Northwest Indiana.
The Big "Holiday Harvest" Show
Sunday, December 4, 8:00 to 11:00Mike and Mike will host a big, four-hour show with tons of guests talking about food issues from all different directions. There will be broadcasting from the parking lot where listeners will be dropping off their donations and some entertaining stuff will be going on.
Donation Information
Watch this Page!We'll be posting a lot of information about healthful, nutritious, and sustainable foods you can donate, beginning now.
Click on the map to see food drive locations.
- WCPT AM & FM, 6012 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago, IL 60629
Donations are accepted:
Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm
Saturday-Sunday 8:00am-2:00pm
Of course, Mike Sanders and I will be standing outside to receive your donations during our special Holiday Harvest Broadcast on December 4 from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Donations will go to one of the participating Holiday Harvest food programs.
- First Evangelical Free Church , 5255 N Ashland Ave Chicago, IL 60640
Donations accepted:
Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00am to 4:30 pm
Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:00 pm Sundays 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Site of Faith in Place Winter Farmers Market on December 11. You can purchase local, sustainable goods, turn around and drop them right in the WCPT bin!
Donations will go to Breakthrough Urban Ministries
- Healthy Horizons Inc, 7034 Indianapolis Blvd # 1, Hammond, IN 46324-2244
Donations accepted:
Monday-Friday 9:00am-8:00pm
Saturday 9:00am-6:00pm
Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm
- Little Mountain-Hope Ministries, 5716 South Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60636-1723
Donations currently accepted Tuesday evenings and all day Sunday. More times to come. Donations will go to the Little Mountain food program.
- Travelers Rest Spiritual Church, 7030 S Racine Ave, Chicago , IL 60636
Donations currently accepted Tuesday evenings and all day Sunday. More times to come.
- Amor De Dios United Methodist Church, 2356 South Sawyer Avenue, Chicago, IL 60623
Donations currently accepted Thursday afternoons and all day Sunday. More times to come.
Donations will go to the Amor de Dios food program.
- Euclid Avenue United Methodist, 405 South Euclid Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60302
Site of Faith in Place Winter Farmers Market on March 24, 2012
Donations go to the Oak Park/River Forest Food Pantry
- North Shore Unitarian Church, 2100 Half Day Rd Deerfield, IL 60015
Donations accepted:
Monday-Friday 10:00am - 2:00pm
Sundays 9:00am-1:00pm
December 4th Special Hours: 8:30am-3:00pm
Site of Faith in Place Winter Farmers Market on December 4! You can purchase local, sustainable goods, turn around and drop them right in the WCPT bin!
Donations go to their local food pantries.Go to the WCPT Holiday Harvest page at Chicago's Progressive Talk for more information.
