Thorndale: Care for Real Finding New Ways to Help Community
The entry of Care for Real's Edgewater location. (Photo by Monica Carter)
By Monica Carter
The Red Line Project
@chitownstories
Posted: Friday, Nov. 4, 2011
A large truck pulls into the alleyway of a small strip mall at 5339 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.
It’s a little after 9 a.m. on a cool, rainy morning and a group of people have come out from the building to direct the truck toward a loading dock.
While this scenario is an everyday occurrence in retail districts, this particular truck is from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and is delivering food to Care for Real, a non-profit organization that provides clothing, counseling services, and food to those in need.
Care for Real began as a temporary solution to help the victims of arson attacks which took place in the once impoverished neighborhood during the early 1970s. Soon, the organization realized that there was a need for their services long after the fires. During the next 40 years, Care for Real would provide residents in need with food and services.
On this day, Justine Trowbridge, a new volunteer at the center, settles at the front desk to help check clients in. A retired senior who lives in the building next door to the center, Trowbridge had done volunteer work in the past when she was living in the Northeast.
“I have free time and I like to feel like I’m doing something useful,” she said. “I’m not the type to sit around and do nothing.”
She will soon be approached by a person who needs help. She will take them through the registration process, asking if it is their first time to the center, gathering their information and directing them to the in-house social worker who will assess their needs and help them further.
Trowbridge, like the others who volunteer at the center, has noticed a trend in the increase of clientele. In the past, many of the people coming in were seniors who were no longer working and needed help making ends meet. Now, she says, a large percentage of their clientele are young families, hard hit from the economic recession.
“Recently many people who come in say ‘I never thought I would be in this position,’” she said.
Care for Real operates several programs, a food pantry, a clothing “closet,” and a pet pantry, which is run in conjunction with local pet shops and veterinarians to provide pet food to those who have to feed the four-legged members of the family. All of these services are provided without any government funding.
According to Irene Bermudez, development director at Care for Real, 80 percent of the operational budget for the organization comes from private donors, with the rest coming from grants. The current 2011 budget wasn’t available, but the website Chicagotalks.org lists Care for Real’s annual budget for 2009 at $200,000.
Recently Care for Real relocated to a larger facility in order to provide all their services in one location. In the past, the clothing “closet” had a separate location from the food pantry and was confined to a small office space located at 6044 N. Broadway St.
Now all of the services have been consolidated to one location which allows clients to access all the services the organization provides in one place. It also makes it easier for donations to be delivered.
One of these donation delivery services is “Pack the Car.” Pack the Car was started by DePaul alum Steven Pryor. The website states that Pack the Car is a convenient way for Edgewater and Andersonville residents to donate food and clothing for local community support groups. One of those support groups that Pack the Car helps is Care for Real.
Pryor came up with the idea for this donation delivery service back in 2009. After going out for a meal with friends, he and his party were approached by a gentleman who asked them for money for food.
Pryor and his friends didn’t have any money, but leftovers, which they offered. At first, they thought the man was going to throw away the food. Instead, he crossed the street and ate the entire meal.
“He reminded us of a friend, dressed nice and just seemed genuinely down on his luck,” Pryor said. “We went home and thought that we really need to do more locally and basically was only going to do ‘Pack the Car’ once. After the overwhelming response we did it a couple more times and [it] has now become a monthly event.”
As the name implies, Pryor parks a car at a busy intersection with heavy foot and auto traffic and fills the car with donations. Signs are placed on the car indicating the cause and where the food and clothing will be dropped off.
This not only notifies people of what is going on, but shows support of a local organization that is helping its community. The car is filled with food and clothing until there is only room for the driver. The donated items are then driven to Care for Real.
“Last summer when we were out at Pack The Car we had a guy come up to us asking what we were doing ,” said Pryor. “We explained what we did and how this helps the local community. He said ‘Thank you for doing this as I was helped by Care For Real and in fact [am] wearing clothing that came from the free clothing closet.’”
A Care for Real volunteer working with stock in the back of Care for Real. (Photo by Monica Carter)
Back at the center, Care for Real volunteer’s converse and share a laugh with the delivery men from the Greater Chicago Food Depository as they unload the truck. The Greater Chicago Food Depository delivers food once a month to Care for Real.
The jovial scene continues, though everyone is hard at work, quickly unloading thousands of pounds of food which will be distributed the next day. According to the organization, Care for Real distributes 60,000 pounds of food a month. Food is distributed every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
The food pantry also receives donations from grocery chains such as Dominick’s, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Care for Real has recently launched a new program entitled ‘”Chef’s Care for Real,” where local restaurants donate a portion of their gross receipts on a specified night to the organization.
Care for Real has prided itself on helping the Edgewater community for the last 40 years, growing from just a food pantry to an organization that offers a variety of services to those in need.
“Care For Real is truly an amazing organization that helps so many people locally,” Pryor said. “Everyone from the senior citizens whose social security check isn’t covering groceries or the family who is down on their luck and just need a bit of help. They welcome all and don’t turn away a soul.”
Return to Thorndale stop | Home page
Feedback: Contact the reporters via Twitter, leave a comment below and Like/Dislike this story. You also can submit a story idea or report an error.
