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For more information contact:
Sarah Slavenas
sslavenas@northernilfoodbank.org
Northern Illinois Food Bank
(Work) 630-443-6910, ext.139
(Cell) 815-277-6570
Food Bank Gets Support From Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley
$20,000 Donation Slated for New Building
(St. Charles IL) Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) is pleased to announce that it has garnered the support of the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley in their efforts to raise funds for their new building with a donation of $20,000.
The $20,000 will be used to help fund the construction of a new Food Distribution and Community Nutrition Center in Geneva, Illinois. The current facility in St. Charles can no longer support the growth of the organization. Over the last eighteen months, demand has skyrocketed due to the sluggish economy and high unemployment. To counter this increased demand, the Food Bank will distribute over 35 million pounds this year. With the new facility, NIFB will have the capability to distribute 60 million pounds of food and beyond annually.
“The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley has indicated, through this donation, that they understand the challenges we face in feeding the spike in numbers of people requiring food assistance. They recognize the importance that this new building signifies in creating a safety net not only for the next few years, but for decades to come,” says NIFB CEO and President, H. Dennis Smith. “We would like to thank them for their commitment to joining us in our mission to create a hunger-free northern Illinois.” Smith added.
About Northern Illinois Food Bank
Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) is an Illinois non-for-profit Corporation that provides food to all those in need through its 537 partner agencies in the following thirteen counties: Boone, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago. NIFB acquires, gathers, handles, and distributes donated, government, and purchased food to more than 61,600 different people each week through local food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, youth activity centers and other food assistance sites. In Fiscal Year 2010 NIFB distributed over 35 million pounds of food and was named the 2010 Food Bank of the Year by Feeding America. The Food Bank has recently launched a Capital Campaign to build a new Food Distribution and Community Nutrition Center to enable them to handle more food more efficiently to meet the increasing demand.