Make a Difference on May 8 - Renovate Ruiz Elementary!

Want to make a big difference this Saturday? Join volunteers from The Home Depot in renovating  Ruiz Elementary School while members of the Mexican National Soccer Team lead Ruiz students in a skills clinic! Volunteers will work from 9:30 - 3, painting indoors and outdoors and repairing the school's courtyard. Help us bring this school back to life! No prior registration needed! Volunteers 18+ can contact adavis@chicagocares.org to sign up. Tell your friends!

Hunger in America: Are You Being Called?

Hunger is not a foreign concept or a thing of the past. It is not selective or mindful of those it affects. Hunger is a pandemic that is sweeping across our nation at an increasingly high rate. There are ways to stop it, but we need action; we need dedicated people to step up and be outspoken about hunger and its affects on our nation’s people. 68% of pantry programs and 42% of soup kitchens have no paid staff and rely solely on volunteers to manage and maintain their programs. Without the support of regular, consistent volunteers, organizations that can make the most progress in addressing critical hunger needs in their neighborhoods, cannot fully realize their potential.

Feeding America is a national organization dedicated to hunger relief. Working daily with individual agencies which include food pantries, soup kitchens, and residential shelters, Feeding America is the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S. Their partner agencies can be found in all fifty states as well as The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Every year, Feeding America receives and allocates more than 2.6 billion pounds of grocery and food products to 61,000 agencies nationwide.

Englewood – On the Brink of Re-Discovery

Englewood came to life at a time when the rest of Chicago was literally blazing. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed much of the city, many residents moved to the outskirts of downtown, making Englewood the new home of many fleeing Chicagoans. Englewood quickly became the host of the Chicago Junction, a merge of several rail road lines that ferried goods and passengers to and from the city, as well as across the country. With such a quick and prosperous start to the new community area, Englewood was seen by many as the “it” spot of Chicago.

Soon after the railroads emerged in Englewood, the shops and markets arrived. In the 1920’s Englewood was the second busiest shopping district in Chicago, topped only by the loop itself. By the 1960’s, Englewood even boasted a pedestrian mall. However, the mall did not bring in the people, money, or neighborhood revitalization the community had hoped for. By 1980 the mall was abandoned and classified as a “failed project,” and for many of the shops it was too late to relocate. Although trains services were still in operation, a steady decrease of commuter train traffic sealed the fate of Englewood. A once fast-paced and highly desirable shopping location for so many turned into a desolate community lacking resources it needed to thrive.