Andrew Ellia loves to cook, grill and share food with family and friends. One night at dinner in May, the Palatine resident realized he also wanted to do that with others who are less fortunate.
"I thought, 'When was the last time I gave back to the community? What if there is a way to do this through something I love?'" he said.
Ellia took action. In partnership with his wife, Patricia, he set up a GoFundeMe, enlisted the help of a few friends and started a new organization called "Feed Chicago."
The effort (gofundme.com/f/LetsFeedChicago) has raised more than $2,000, delivered food to homeless individuals on the streets of Chicago, and served meals for clients of two nonprofits that serve the city's homeless. A cookout for another Chicago organization will take place Friday.
"You can think of us as a vendor that provides free food," Ella said.
The organization, whose logo and website go by "Let's Feed Chicago," has a core group of five active volunteers and another five or so who join when they can.
The volunteers twice drove to downtown Chicago -- specifically, the Lower Wacker Drive area -- to deliver "goody bags" with food and items like toilet paper, water, breakfast bars and more, Ellia said.
"We drive around, just looking for someone we can help out. We park on the side and someone gets out to hang a bag," he said. "The response is a lot of, "God bless you.'"
Feed Chicago cooked dinner in June for 83 clients of Lincoln Park Community Services, which has two homeless shelters in Chicago. The dinner featured three types of tacos -- al pastor, carne asada and vegan Beyond Meat -- and homemade salsa.
Cheryl Hamilton-Hill, CEO of Lincoln Park Community Center, said the help from volunteers like Feed Chicago "is so important" because it frees up resources for the nonprofit. "It also gives the guests a variety of meal selections that come to them from people on the outside," she said. "And it also allows them to know there are other people who care about them."
Feed Chicago cooked a meal of hot dogs and hamburgers for about 50 people in July during an event held by Chicago's La Casa Norte, which serves youth and families experiencing homelessness.
"Everybody loved the food," said Sofia Sanchez, marketing and communications specialist.
As for Feed Chicago, "It was really cool to get to know them and see that they were jumping into the community right away," she said. "It shows they are not afraid to reach out to organizations in the community, and put themselves out there."
Feed Chicago has been reaching out to lots of nonprofits to offer free food and would love to help out in the suburbs, Ellia said.
He and his wife are plenty busy these days, what with their jobs -- he's an engineer, she's a software engineer -- Feed Chicago and being parents to a five-month-old baby daughter. "I'm very thankful because I have superwoman at the house," Ellia said.
Ellia said he volunteered in the past for the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children. So why not join the efforts of an existing organization?
"We didn't feel like they would give us this opportunity to, 'Let's make this awesome meal,'" he said. "Some charities are packing food. Some have food and say, come to the kitchen and make another meal.'"
"What we cook ... we are eating the same food and we enjoy the cooking part. Part of it is being together as friends. And everybody deserves to enjoy a delicious meal."
Ellia said he's serious about growing Feed Chicago, which he registered as a nonprofit with the state, and continuing the effort long-term.
"If we have a month where the funds are not coming up from donors, then we are going to come up with it on our own," he said.
Most importantly, he wants to bring awareness about people experiencing homelessness.
"Oftentimes we drive past the tents, we drive past those folks, and whether we've gotten used to it or whatever that may be ... just bringing more awareness to it is important."
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August 11, 2021 at 05:36PM
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Palatine residents' 'Feed Chicago' pairs their love of cooking with commitment to helping others - Daily Herald
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