1 City, 1 Food Drive collects 1.3 million meals

The Union Station food drive collected nearly 15,000 pounds of food in less than 24 hours.

Throughout November and December, the Food Depository’s 1 City, 1 Food Drive campaign united more than 500 food drives with 250 public donation locations across Cook County. This year’s campaign collected more than 1.3 million meals for hungry men, women and children in our community.

Some of the highlights from this year’s campaign included the Union Station Food Drive, which collected more than 14,800 pounds of food in less than 24 hours. Commuters were given food drive bags and asked to return them full of shelf-stable groceries the following morning. Another highlight was the food drive celebration at the Merchandise Mart in late November, which brought together Food Depository supporters, volunteers, staff and donors to proclaim to Chicago that no one should go hungry.

In addition to physical food drives, virtual food drives were an important part of the 1 City, 1 Food Drive effort. The top virtual drive was Morningstar, which collected more than $76,000, the equivalent of 228,377 meals. Overall, there were nearly 400 virtual food drives throughout November and December, which collected a total of $216,000.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, participated in a food drive, or started a food drive this holiday season. You made a lasting impact on hunger in our community. And, thank you to our key food drive partners, including the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, Boy Scouts of America Chicago Area Council, Chicago Bulls, City of Chicago, Fox Chicago, InterPark, ISSA Family Foundation and Life Time Fitness Turkey Day 5K.

Food drives are critical during the holidays, but are needed year-round. Start one now.