Food for Greater Elgin has become known for its partnership with Senior Services Associates. On Fridays,
we deliver food twice a month to seniors in and around Elgin. But we have an additional
delivery program that you may not know about.
On Thursdays, FFGE brings food to about 30 families a week with unique needs. These are individuals or families who can’t go out for food due to physical handicap, lack of transportation, chronic illness and, in these times, being under quarantine due to COVID or being in an extremely high-risk group for illness. Several are faced with extreme dietary restrictions that prohibit them from getting a pre-boxed standard set of foods—they can’t have corn products, food dyes and other additives that are commonly a part of pre-packaged foods.
This group is different from our senior delivery service in that:
- While we supplement the food for seniors with our other delivery program, we are the primary source of food for the Thursday group.
- The boxes of food we deliver are thus heavier.
- The age range is from people in their 20s to 80s.
- Because of the short term nature of quarantines, this list changes constantly.
On Tuesdays, a volunteer calls our list to make sure they need food; on Wednesdays, a small team of
volunteers shops for the diet-restricted group; and on Thursdays, a group of drivers delivers the food at
around 1 p.m.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with this program, or are in need of a delivery, call 224-242-3370 or email ed@ffge.org for details.