The Nourish Project: Increasing Access to Healthy, Prepared Meals

Since 1979, the Greater Chicago Food Depository has been working daily to end hunger across Chicago and Cook County. Our goal has always been to help our neighbors build healthy, secure lives, while strengthening the communities they call home.

The Nourish Project is a critical part of that mission and was launched to:

1. Expand ways to end hunger in Chicago and Cook County
2. Increase the availability of healthy food
3. Address the root causes of food insecurity

Our prepared meals pilot programs through Nourish are already serving our neighbors most in need through nutritious prepared meals, including those who require medically tailored meals.

Phase two of this launch will occur in early 2024, when building construction next to our current building is complete. The 40,000-square foot facility will include a massive commercial kitchen to help us reach more neighbors with healthy food—up to 10,000 prepared meals a day!

Larry Weger, the Food Depository’s Senior Director of Meal Manufacturing, says, “The most important thing is that people will be receiving dinner who aren’t receiving it now.”

In addition to meeting the urgent need for nutritious meals among people facing unique barriers to food access, including health and mobility, the Nourish Project will create economic opportunities and jobs for communities that have been historically impacted by inequity and disinvestment.

Thank you for supporting the Food Depository as we continue to strategize and implement outreaches and programs like the Nourish Project that meet urgent needs while laying the foundation for an end to hunger in Chicago and Cook County.

Double Your Impact through the $50,000 Matching Challenge

You may have heard that generous friends of the Food Depository have offered a $50,000 matching challenge. That means your gift today will be DOUBLED to go TWICE as far for the children, families and individuals of Chicago and Cook County.