We're Running Out of Space, But Not Out of Hungry People

The Plan
In order to better position the Food Bank to meet the increasing need for years to come, NIFB has launched a Capital Campaign “We are running out of space, but not out of hungry people” to build a new Food Distribution and Community Nutrition Center. While this effort has long been a part of NIFB’s vision to provide hunger relief to those in need, the construction of a new building is now an urgent necessity.

Our current 45-year old facility is no longer sufficient for us to meet this demand and effectively distribute food to those in need. This building will more than double the warehouse space for dry products and increase our freezer and cooler space. There will be more vehicle and refrigerated docks, expanded office space, a Clean Room for re-packing bulk foods and more efficient work space for volunteers to sort and process donated food. NIFB will have the capacity to handle and distribute up to five million pounds of food each month. 
 

Our goal is to attain LEED certification at the gold level by including several innovative energy-saving features. A Community Nutrition Program will provide a comprehensive educational and research program to improve healthy eating habits for the low-income population and a Production Kitchen will convert donated foods into ready-to-eat meals and prepare snacks and suppers for the Youth Nutrition Program.  The Board has selected Ryan Companies as our construction partner and we anticipate moving into the completed facility in mid-2011.  NIFB held a Groundbreaking Celebration on July 12, 2010 with official construction beginning in September 2010.

The Support
Hungry people in northern Illinois need your support to make this vision possible.  The Food Bank calculates the cost of the project to be $15,800,000.  To date we have secured nearly five million from our most ardent supporters. To learn more about this critical effort, please read our Case Statement.  No donation is too small so please consider a gift above and beyond your normal contributions.  Naming Opportunities are available in recognition of leadership gifts.  Please make yours today!  Your donations will be matched by these organizations!  Click the Donate Now button to learn more.   Remember, we are running out of space ... but we are not running out of hungry people! 

Click here to view the capital campaign video!

*Matching challenge grant from the Thing 1-2-3 Foundation.

Please call Julie Yurko, Director of Development, at 630.443.6910 ext. 119  to learn how you can support this campaign!