Rotary Club of Carol Stream Donates 2 Cargo Vans Full of Non-Perishable Food

HSP's Monday Morning Food Sorters Unload & begin sorting the donation.


Saturday morning teams of volunteers pulled together, going door to door to collect non-perishable food from residents of Carol Streams' homes for the Rotary Club of Carol Stream's annual "Make a Difference Day". The results were amazing as HSP received 2 cargo vans full of non-perishable food with an approximate weight of 6,750 lbs and this was only a third of what the Rotarians collected. They also served other Carol Stream agencies including the Interfaith Food Pantry at the Outreach Community Center and Feeding Northwest DuPage at Lutheran Church of the Master.



Though it was only the 2nd year the club hosted this event, Food Drive Chairman Luanne Triolo-Newman is no stranger to organizing food drives. "I've been coordinating a food drive in my neighborhood for 12 years. For this event, we attached brightly colored flyers to grocery bags and tied them to neighbor's doors the Sunday before (the Saturday pick up). It takes more time to distribute the bags than you might think!"



This year, the organization also used soical media as a form of marketing and volunteer recruitment. "I posted on Facebook that we were looking for help and I would receive responses back. It really helped me coordinate the routes and volunteers." Local schools also got involved, motivated their students, and had great success. Benjamin Middle School's volunteer and mother Angela awarded a pizza party to the classroom that brought in the most canned goods and Glenbard North offered an i-pod to the student who collected the most food.

Rotarians are no stangers to service and this international organizatoin with 1.5 million members has been reaching out to better their communities since 1905, making them the oldest service organization in the world. Not only are they taking on projects at the local level, but the organization also provides aid and assistance on the national and international level as well.



"It just amazes me! If you and I tried to feed hungry people, how far would we get? But look at what happens when the community pulls together, what a great success," Luanne says and we couldn't agree more!