FAMILY

YES-MINDED APPROACH

We look for what is possible and find creative solutions, transforming challenges into viable opportunities.

Audrena Spence and her team of dedicated staff distributed food for 2,042 households at the Calumet Center on three subsequent Fridays in June.

They partnered with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and local elected officials. Staff and volunteers were mobilized, and they set up in a nearby parking lot to offer fresh produce and other food items.

This effort provided critical access for a community facing barriers related to food insecurity and transportation.

Learning from check-ins with senior clients that isolation was a key issue facing the community,
Carrie Pullie, Program Director at our Calumet Center’s Altgeld Gardens site, put together a way to stay connected: BINGO! with cleaning supplies as prizes.

Calling out numbers over Zoom looked so fun, Carrie’s staff started playing their own games during staff meetings.
Food insecurity is an issue our Altgeld Youth Leadership Program youth care about.
During monthly Food Distribution Events, they offer donated nonperishables – and smiling faces – to their neighbors in need.

WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER:
Community partners say YES to families across Metropolitan

Our North Center serves more than 5,600 in the community; in a pandemic, that translates to a lot of hand sanitizer.

When Koval Distillery donated 500 gallons, we distributed it to our families at the North Center and multiple MFS sites, keeping our communities safe in what North Center Executive Director Roxanne Nava called “a rippling effect.”

Read the story in Block Club Chicago

The boxes we distributed for our Early Learning families in DuPage held more than school supplies; the food, cleaning products and hard-to-find items were a lifeline to some clients.

Our partners at PNC, already involved with our Early Learning programs, funded the initiative to sustain that lifeline for our families through the pandemic.

Read the story in the Daily Herald

Longtime Metropolitan partner Cradles 2 Crayons has donated diapers before, but when the pandemic hit, our families needed them like never before.

Cradles 2 Crayons came through for us: not only with diapers, but also with hygiene kits and wipes for nearly 1,000 families across our North, Midway and DuPage communities.

Read the story on our blog