Feed1st Program
This Giving Day, you can help patients and families in need through the Feed1st Program’s free food pantry at the University of Chicago Medicine.
CHALLENGE
To inspire more donors to support Feed1st, an anonymous donor has issued a generous donor challenge: they will add $10,000 to the total if 40 donors make a Giving Day gift of any size to the Feed1st Program.
Donations are applied to...
Located in convenient spaces across UChicago Medicine, Feed1st’s open-access, self-serve, no-questions-asked food pantry sites are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The pantry sites are anonymous and available to all patients and their families. Every donation and every dollar helps pay for the food and supplies necessary to keep Feed1st operating.
- $10 buys 30 meals
- $50 buys 150 meals
- $100 buys 300 meals
Why are donations necessary?
Feed1st was created to offer access to food—no questions asked and free of charge—to patients and their family members who are experiencing hunger and food insecurity. Open 24/7, the pantry sources food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. With the help of medical students, nurses, and other volunteers, the Feed1st program offers 11 food pantry sites across UChicago Medicine.
Our communities on the South Side of Chicago experience some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the city; in some neighborhoods, more than half of residents don't know where their next meal will come from.
Food insecurity has been linked to negative health outcomes in both children and adults. The food pantry was started in response to anecdotal evidence from hospital staff suggesting that parents were going hungry at their child's bedside. The food pantry helps to address the issue of food insecurity experienced by patients, families, and staff at UChicago Medicine.