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Celebrate 85 Years of HCS With the ’85 Bears!
HCS Family Services
Thank You to Our Board Members
HCS Family Services would like to express our sincere appreciation to Donna Cooper, Jane Freedlund Wareham, and Marianne Pokorny for their dedicated service as members of the Board of Directors. We thank you for your commitment to our mission: to strengthen our community by reducing hunger and promoting self-sufficiency. We look forward to your continued partnership.
Thank you, Bob Lassandrello, for your incredible leadership as Chair of the Board of Directors for the last three years. Congratulations Joel Pundmann on being elected as the new Chair.
HCS Family Services applies for Community Development Block Grant
HCS Family Services has applied for Community Development Block Grant – Coronavirus Act Funds (CDBG-CV).
For information on the public hearing, please learn more in the downloadable Public Hearing Notice pdf.
Learn more about 2019 Action Plan, Substantial Amendment #5 at https://www.dupageco.org/Community_Services/Community_Development_Commission/31052/.
A virtual public hearing for the 2019 Draft Action Plan Substantial Amendment #5 will be held on April 14, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. This is open to the public and everyone is virtually invited to attend. Additional information on the Amendment is available at https://www.dupageco.org/Community_Services/Community_Development_Commission/62903/.
Join Our Virtual Food Drive
Help us continue our mission of providing food to those in need in our community.
Join our Virtual Food Drive. Donate. Start a Team. Join a Team. #fillacart #fillaheart
About the Campaign
We’re addressing food insecurity within our community.
Since the onset of the pandemic, HCS Family Services has experienced an increase of 170%. Our doors have remained opened as we have scaled and redefined our operations to support our neighbors in need.
Today, we are asking you to join us in this work. Our mission is to spread awareness and raise money to fight hunger head-on.
Your involvement is critical to our success and solving this issue.
Executive Director’s Update
Full Bellies. Full Hearts.
During the Thanksgiving week, we were visited by more than 300 neighbors in need seeking food support for their Thanksgiving meals. Thanks to everyone who supported our effort with their time, talents, and treasures.
A Bird’s Eye View of the Need
At the onset of the pandemic, we shared with you the lines of cars that wrap around our block in Hinsdale. The lines continue to grow and we are now rounding the fourth corner of our block with folks seeking food support. The need has increased by 170% since the onset of the pandemic.
In the coming weeks, as we move towards electronic curbside registration, we will invite our neighbors to visit during specific timeframes. As a core value, we believe that nobody’s time is best spent waiting for food. In addition, we value our Hinsdale neighbors and thank everyone in town for continued patience and understanding of our long lines as we navigate these challenging times together.
Watch how curbside distribution allows us to safely and efficiently provide nutritious food to our neighbors in need in this video taken by former Youth Board President George Bull of GB Aerial Photography.
Working Together to Serve Our Community
At the onset of the pandemic, leaders of Anne M. Jeans Elementary School in Willowbrook, where our school food pantry is located, generously donated the use of their entire gymnasium – the size of two full basketball courts – for our food storage and pack-out preparation.
Over the past months, we have worked to transform, deep clean, and reorganize our Hinsdale Pantry so that all food storage and shelf-stable packaging can be moved from Anne M. Jeans Elementary gymnasium to the basement of the Memorial Building in Hinsdale. Big thanks to all the people involved in making our move a reality, most notably the Hinsdale Central Hockey Club, who moved all our items out of the gym last Tuesday.
Looking back, we loved our temporary home at the Anne M. Jeans Elementary School but we knew it was just a place to rest during the pandemic and not a place to stay forever. We are thankful to Superintendent Tom Schneider of the Community Consolidated District 180 and Principle Tracy Richey of the Anne M. Jeans Elementary School for allowing us to take temporary residence in the school gymnasium.
For anyone needing food support in the Willowbrook area, please come visit us each Wednesday from 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Each week we serve upwards of 150 neighbors and are there to serve!
If you, your friends or family need help putting food on your table, please visit our Food Pantries page for our distribution days, times and locations.
With gratitude,
Amy Wickstrom
Executive Director
Giving Tuesday 2020
Dear Friends,
Today is #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving and unity as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.
Access to nutritious food is more important than ever. We are serving 170 percent more of our neighbors in need since the onset of the pandemic. Many of these people are first-time visitors, our friends and neighbors who never dreamed of needing assistance but now need our help.
Unfortunately, we expect the number of people needing food assistance to continue to be high, as businesses face the uncertainty of prolonged closures and our neighbors feel the effects of unemployment.
If you are able, please consider giving what you can. Or, join our Virtual Food Drive. Donate. Start a Team. Join a Team. #fillacart #fillaheart to help us continue our mission of providing food to those in need in our community.
With gratitude,
Amy Wickstrom
Executive Director