Reflections from Interim ED, Michael Montgomery
In my first weeks here I have discovered that we are:
Staff members Sergio Cervantes and Rey Fuentes setting forth at 6 a.m. to pick up food at our partner suppliers.
Suppliers like Amazon and Sam’s Club (and Walmart and US Foods and Meijer and Target and more) who donate food that is getting close to the use-by date so that we can give by the use-by date to people who are in need.
Warehouse workers who gather and prepare the food for our pick up. When I joined the early morning pickups, I was repeatedly told how grateful they were to be able to help us feed people who were hungry.
418 volunteers who sort and stack groceries, welcome our guests and guide them through our pantry to choose healthy foods for their families. Some of our volunteers come once or twice and go away with their eyes opened as to the reality of poverty and hungry people in our communities. Others, like Debbie McGuire and Karen Langenstrass, have been with us since we opened our doors in 2011. All are good, all are who we are!
Board members and former board members and other volunteers who like to organize fundraisers, who pitch in to plan and carry out the money raisers like Pallet to Palate and Chip In For Hunger and more, to raise cash to pay the bills. Even when $10 gets FFGE $80 worth of food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank, we still need those $10 to get the food!
Allied organizations like Amita Health, Centro de Informacion, Oak Street Health, and more who use our facilities to bring needed services to people who might not otherwise know how to get the help that they need.
Hundreds of donors who give us money to buy that food and pay our expenses, so that we can deliver compassionate support to neighbors who otherwise would be choosing between paying rent and buying food for their families.
Food for Greater Elgin is you, it is us, it is all of us pitching in together to accomplish our mission of providing food to people who need it. Thank you!
–Michael H. Montgomery, Interim Executive Director