The 16th Aurora Holiday Food Drive was the most successful ever in terms of food donated to the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, officials said.
There were 12,150 pounds of food collected as part of the drive this year, up slightly from 11,374 pounds of groceries collected in 2022, which had been the largest amount in pounds collected to that point.
That made the 2023 drive the largest ever, and it was done in one fewer day than in 2022.
This year, as Katie Arko, senior director of development at the pantry, pointed out, “there’s still time to feed a child or family for the holidays.”
That’s because the packaged grocery bags of food that are the linchpin of the drive are still available at the three grocery stores that participate in the food drive each year: Prisco’s Family Market, 1108 Prairie St., Aurora; Cermak Fresh Market, 1250 N. Lake St., Aurora; and La Chiquita, 1525 Douglas Road, Montgomery.
People can buy packaged bags of groceries of $5, $10, $15 and $20 as they go through the checkout line during normal shopping to donate to the pantry.
And the $20 virtual bag on the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry website is also still available.
All the bags will be available through Christmas.
The pantry always 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 also still are 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 was 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 Aurora Bank and Trust.
