During her typical workday, Cassandra Garcia would be sitting at her desk at Pfizer. Instead, she and her colleagues showed up Thursday to Union Station to pack thousands of meals to be distributed to food pantries across Cook County.
“It’s good for the soul,” said Garcia, 43, of the event, which was organized in remembrance of 9/11 and for people experiencing food insecurity.
The nonprofit 9/11 Day organizes similar packing events across 24 cities, offering thousands of residents the chance to volunteer and assemble meals. The event comes during Hunger Action Month, which is observed in September. Roughly 1,800 Chicagoans took part in Thursday’s effort, including another Pfizer employee, Linda Tooley.
“I just wanted to be surrounded by the positive,” said Tooley, 38. “Positive people, positive things, doing something good.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson also attended the event, joining in the packing process of the main food item — oatmeal with sugar and cinnamon — at one table.
Funneling the single-serve seasoned oats into plastic baggies and then sealing it, Johnson said the day was about banding together and showing up for Chicagoans.
“One thing that we are absolutely clear on in Chicago is that we show up for those vulnerable,” Johnson said. “And we will always do what is necessary to defend our democracy and to protect humanity.”
The meals will be sent out to a network of more than 850 food pantries across Cook County.
Camerin Mattson, communications manager at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, said one in five households in the Chicago area experience food insecurity. And one in four households with children are at risk of going hungry, Mattson said.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository has seen an uptick in the number of people in need of food over the past year. They have served nearly 200,000 households a month, the highest figure in the history of their records, she said.
“There’s so many factors right now,” Mattson said. “All at the same time there’s a rise — food prices are high, rents are high. Everything is elevated right now. All of that together is this perfect storm that’s driving need.”
Matthew Durfee, the director of Midwest operations for Meals of Hope, said this yearly event is a way for volunteers across the country to give back to their local communities.
“It’s taking a day that normally people associate with sadness and trying to instead associate it with togetherness, service and leadership,” Durfee said.
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