And the winner is...

The CAN DO Community Challenge not only extends to local businesses, congregations, and individuals, but also to our schools where students strive to win the CAN DO trophy.

Each year during the Food Pantry’s spring drive schools compete to take home the CAN DO Community Challenge Trophy.  The trophy is awarded to the school that has the most challenge points—a system based off 10 points for every dollar donated, 5 points for “high powered” items (beans, brown rice, tuna, etc.), and 1 point for all other donations. 

As last year’s “Most Spirited” school, Horace Mann Elementary was ready to translate that excitement into a 2017 CAN DO victory.  They won the challenge with 20,579 points, enough to feed 137 families! 

Once again, we were pleased to have 100% participation from Oak Park and River Forest public schools. This year we also welcomed some notable newcomers to the challenge including Fenwick High School, Trinity High School, Keystone Montessori, Oak Park Montessori, and Secular Jewish School. 

Overall the participating schools raised enough food and monetary donations to provide over 20,300 meals to our neighbors in need.  This added a great boost to our community goal of 100,000 dollars and donations. We ended up exceeding this goal and secured a $25,000 match from the Challenge Corp.

We are so appreciative of the generosity and support shown by our schools and community.  Thank you all for rallying to end local hunger!