Music For Food concert featuring Spektral Quartet at PianoForte Studios November 22

Sunday, November 22, 2015, 5 p.m.
PianoForte Studios
1335 S. Michigan Ave.

Admission: Monetary donation and/or non-perishable food items
Event Web site

Thanksgiving is synonymous with gatherings of family and celebrations of abundance, but it is also an opportunity to consider those for whom food is far from plentiful. This November, Spektral Quartet expresses its own gratitude by partnering with Music for Food to bring much-needed food to hungry people in Chicago with a rousing concert benefiting the South Loop Community Church Food Pantry.

Internationally renowned violist and program founder Kim Kashkashian launched Music for Food as a community-based initiative to transform talent into real world hunger relief for those in need. Music for Food has provided over 200,000 meals during its six-year tenure, with the goal of addressing the everyday, long-term effects of hunger on children and families. A 2012 USDA report found that 20% of Americans live in food-insecure households, and Music for Food aims to help lower that staggering number.

The Spektral Quartet will perform Schubert’s Quartettsatz, Cage’s Quartet in Four Parts, Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1, and Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge for any attendee making a monetary or non-perishable food donatioin at the PianoForte Studios on November 22. While the admission process may be out of the ordinary, the program is characteristically diverse for Spektral, taking the audience from the Romantic melodrama of the Schubert to the Zen-like stillness of Cage, and from the lyrical twists of Prokofiev through the ecstatic counterpoint of the Beethoven.

The Spektral Quartet’s concert marks the second Music for Food event in Chicago, led by cellist Mira Luxion. For this event, concertgoers are offered incentives for giving beyond the suggested $20 donation. Donors at the $50-or-more level will be invited for drinks with the quartet following the concert, and gifts of $100 or more will provide a Thanksgiving basket to a South Loop Pantry client as well as an invitation to post-show cocktails. Donors are requested to make their contributions by November 18, to secure their seats.

For queries and interview requests, please contact doyle@spektralquartet.com. For Music for Food inquiries, please contact Mira Luxion at miracello@gmail.com.

South Loop Community Church to offer new women’s clothing for sale

South Loop Community Church, 1347 S. State St., will be offering new women’s clothing the third Saturday of each month starting September 19, 2015. The time will coincide with the hours of the church’s food pantry, 9 – 11 a.m.

Name brand and designer clothes for women on racks for browsing

For $20, customers will get a shopping bag (see picture below) that they can fill with clothes. All sales will be in cash. No checks, no credit cards. There will be no returns, exchanges, or layaways. There is no limit on shopping. Clothes for sale will include designer and name brands.

For $20 you can fill the above bag up with clothes.

The church will still  offer donated, gently used clothing for both men and women free of charge.

Music For Food Concert On April 12 To Benefit South Loop Food Pantry

CHICAGO – On Sunday, April 12 at 5:00pm, a group of acclaimed young musicians from the Chicago area will present a concert at the PianoForte Foundation, 1335 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago to benefit the South Loop Community Church Food Pantry.

The Chicago musicians are presenting the concert under the auspices of Music for Food, a musician-led initiative for hunger relief. Mira Luxion, the organizer and one of the participating artists, comments: “I am thrilled to be presenting this Music for Food concert, hopefully the first of a lasting series in Chicago. From the moment I first heard of Music for Food, I was moved by its mission. As musicians, we are given the capacity to touch people in tangible as well as intangible ways. The performers are dear friends and colleagues and it is truly inspiring to be working with them towards this mission.”

The program offers works by Austrian composers Mozart, Schubert, and the lesser-known Carl
Frühling:

PROGRAM
Mozart: Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major, K.423
Lauren Lai, violin
Kim Uwate, viola

Mozart: Andante from Sonata No. 9 in D Major, K.311
Eugenia Jeong, piano

Schubert: Selection of Lieder
Anne Slovin, soprano
Eugenia Jeong, piano

(Intermission)

Carl Frühling: Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 40
Steven Gooden, clarinet
Mira Luxion, cello
Andy Costello, piano

TICKETS AND QUESTIONS
Those attending are asked to bring a monetary donation (cash or check made out to Music for
Food) or non-perishable food items. Questions about the concert may be directed to Mira Luxion:
miracello@gmail.com, or 312-513-6422.

South Loop Pantry volunteer opportunities meeting August 20, 2014

South Loop Community Church Food Pantry, 1347 S. State St., is looking for volunteers to help with their food pantry and clothes closet ministries. The church will be holding a brief introduction meeting on volunteer opportunities, Wednesday August 20, 2014 at 7:15 p.m.

The food pantry serves between 85 and 100 walk-ins every week.

In operation for over two years, the food pantry serves between 85 and 100 walk-ins every week. If you’re looking for a way to serve or give back to your community, volunteering at the food pantry might be for you. The food pantry needs volunteers on Saturday mornings, when food distribution takes place, as well as during the week to help with accepting food deliveries and restocking shelves.

The food pantry offers free produce three times a month.

Food distribution is every Saturday, 9-11 a.m. Three times a month, the pantry also offers fresh produce. The clothes closet distributes clothes and accessories for men, women, and children twice a month. The clothes closet operates the second and third Saturdays of every month during the food distribution. After food pantry clients get their food, they can look at clothing.

Click here to download this flyer.

The food pantry has partnered with local businesses, like Overflow Coffee Bar, Marianos, Pret A Manger, and Urban Re-Mix, and community organizations like Greater South Loop Association (GSLA). The GSLA contributed $1000 to the help the pantry buy turkeys last year for Thanksgiving baskets.

For more information, visit the church’s Web site or contact them via e-mail at southloopcommunitychurch@gmail.com or call the church office at 312.566.9076.

For a look at how the food pantry operates, check out this post from local South Loop blogger Bonnie McGrath.

If you would like to promote this volunteer event in your building or office, click here to download flyer.


Full disclosure: The writer of this blog is a regular volunteer at the South Loop Community Church Food Pantry. It’s been a rewarding experience serving folks in need from our neighborhood.

Here Comes the 2013 Bash on Wabash

Celebrating its 10th year, the Greater South Loop Association will be presenting its annual Bash on Wabash street festival on Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25; 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. The Bash on Wabash is located between 14th St. and 14th Pl.

For all ages
This year’s Bash features attractions for all ages, including a wide variety of musical acts, activities, food trucks, a kids stage as well as the participation of over 30 vendors. Admission is a $5 suggested donation. There is a $2 fee for the kids stage. A portion of the Bash proceeds will be donated to the South Loop Community Church Food Pantry.

Games and attractions
Games and attractions include free sumo wrestling, mechanical bull riding, psychic and tarot card readings, a dunk tank, animal costume contest, and aerobic, strength, yoga and dance classes. The kids stage is open 12:00 p.m. – 7 p.m. and includes face painting, hula hoop lessons, drum circle, bounce house, live music, balloon artist, arts & crafts, circus lessons and more!

New faces, new energy
This Years’s Bash On Wabash committee has plenty of new faces including T.J. Sagen, chairman of the event. Sagen has extensive experience in music management. He currently represents the Grammy-nominated rock band Disturbed, an act that has sold over 14 million albums worldwide. Other artists he represents include, Sevendust, Art Of Dying, W.E.R.M., The Lifeline, The Scissors and singer/songwriter Jess Godwin. He has also been a part of some of the world’s largest music festivals, including Europe’s Rock AM Ring and Download Festival.

Sagen has assembled a group of volunteers with experience in event and project management, writers, financial professionals, and musicians to ensure that this year’s event is a success.

All concerts sponsored by Reggies Chicago and Budweiser.

For more information, including the entertainment schedule, Bash on Wabash Web site.

Sex-Trafficing Documentary “Nefarious” screening January 11, 2013

A screening of the award-winning documentary, Nefarious: Merchant of Souls will be shown at South Loop Community Church, 1347 S. State, January 11, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.


“Modern slavery.” It sounds like a paradox. Hasn’t humanity progressed? Didn’t we leave slavery dead on the battlefields of the American Civil war? Didn’t social reformers like Lincoln and Wilberforce legislate against such cruelty over a hundred years ago? So we had thought. But, with over 27 million enslaved people across the world, human trafficking is still the battlefront of the century.

Regardless of nationality, victims are systematically stripped of their identity, battered into gruesome submission and made to perform humiliating sexual acts with up to 40 strangers every night. Held against their will, most are forced to take illegal drugs and are kept under constant surveillance. On average, victims are thrown into such ghastly oppression at age 13. Some are abducted outright, while others are lured out of poverty, romantically seduced, or sold by their families.

Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, is a hard-hitting documentary that exposes the disturbing trends in modern sex slavery. From the very first scene, Nefarious ushers you into the nightmare of sex slavery that hundreds of thousands experience daily. You’ll see where slaves are sold (often in developed, affluent countries), where they work and are confined. You’ll hear first-hand interviews with real victims and traffickers, along with expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders.

From initial recruitment to victim liberation––and everything between––the previously veiled underworld of sex slavery is uncovered in the groundbreaking, tell-all Nefarious: Merchant of Souls.

Hunger Walk 2012

This Saturday June 23, 2012, is the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s annual Hunger Walk. The walk will take place at Soldier Field. Registration is 7 a.m. and step-off is 8:30 a.m. All of the proceeds go directly to help support the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The Hunger Walk is also a way for local food pantries in Chicago to raise funds. Walkers can support specific food pantries in their community or donate funds directly to Greater Chicago Food Depository. If you want to donate to a specific food pantry, you need to include the pantry’s “agency number” on your registration form. Pantries receive $12 in Depository credit for each walker they sign up.


In the South Loop, the South Loop Community Church Food Pantry will be walking. SLCC Food Pantry is open every Saturday 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. The pantry provides clients with nonperishable food items every week as well as fresh vegetables and meat, when available. If you would like to help this local food pantry, please include their agency number (A01435) on your registration form. To download a registration form, click here.

Get ready for “Meatless Mondays in May—Mmmm!”

Alliance for a Greener South Loop is hosting a “Meatless Mondays in May” community kick-off event on Saturday March 24, 2012, 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. at South Loop Community Church, 1347 S. State St. Attendees will have an opportunity to sample meat-free fare from local restaurants.

In addition to sampling meatless menu items from participating South Loop restaurants, participants will:

• Hear performances by the Jones College Prep High School jazz band and the South Loop Elementary School choir
• Learn about the environmental benefits of eating less meat and how to get involved in this earth-friendly campaign.
• Win great, green raffle prizes, such as I-Go Car Sharing certificate, Kill-a-Watt Energy Meter, CTA One-Day Transit Cards, Bicycle Helmet, Bicycle Air Pump, Bicycle Lights, Herb Garden Starter Kits, and more!

RSVP is required (info@greenersouthloop.com) and participants are asked to bring a food donation for the church’s food pantry.

Invited guests include Alderman Robert Fioretti and Alderman Pat Dowell.

The Alliance for a Greener South Loop works to make the South Loop a greener place to live, work, and play.  We engage South Loop individuals, businesses, buildings, institutions, and city agencies so that we all “tread more lightly on the earth.” 

Church Launches Weekly Food Pantry Outreach March 10

Suggested food donation items

South Loop Community Church (SLCC) at 1347 S. State St. is launching a food pantry outreach Saturday, March 10, 2012, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Food will be distributed every Saturday 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. thereafter.

South Loop Community Church is a member agent with Greater Chicago Food Depository. SLCC Food Pantry is currently the only food pantry in the 60605 zip code. SLCC Food Pantry is serving the hungry in Cook County. To download a flyer to help publicize this event, click here.

Donations of food are being accepted at Overflow Coffee Bar at 1550 S. State St. and at SLCC.

For more information, call 312.566.9076.

Free Organizing Seminar February 11, 2012

Pooja Gugnani, CEO and Founder of Organizing With You, will be presenting a free organizing seminar on Saturday, February 11, 11 a.m – 12 p.m. at South Loop Community Church, 1347 S. State St. Pooja will help simplify your life by maximizing your space and time.

Before (left) and after (right)

There will be a 30 minute presentation, followed by a Q & A session. Pooja says, “Whether you’re a mom, executive, or student, you will benefit from this seminar.” As a bonus, Pooja will provide an exclusive coupon offer for seminar attendees.

Coffee and drinks will be provided.

Before founding Organizing With You, Inc., Pooja Gugnani worked for six years as a marketing and communications executive in a health care non-profit organization. Her belief that organizing paves the way for personal development and general well-being  led her to explore a career as a professional organizer. Pooja is passionate about organizing and loves that she is able work with clients ranging from executives, busy moms, entrepreneurs, students to seniors. Pooja resides in downtown Chicago with her husband, and is also an avid artist. She has had numerous clients benefit from her services. You can find Organizing With You on Facebook and you can follow her on Twitter.

Food Pantry Distribution This Saturday

South Loop Community Church, 1347 S. State St., will open its food pantry this Saturday, November 19, 2011. The food distribution hours are 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Those coming to the pantry can expect to receive a bag of groceries with a selection of canned and dry goods.

Those in need of groceries should enter the church’s south parking lot; the pantry entrance is located there. Those would like to help the SLCC’s food pantry ministry, may be drop off nonperishable food goods at the church during weekly office hours.

Pantry entrance is by the south parking lot.

For more information, please call Antonio at 312-804-1519 or Rosa at 312-923-9068. If you would like to download and print a flyer to post in your building or office, click here.

Yard Sale at South Loop Community Church This Saturday

South Loop Community Church at 1347 S. State St. is having a yard sale Saturday, September 24, 2011 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. All proceeds will go toward the SLCC facility fund.

If you have items you’d like to donate, please contact the church during weekday business hours at 312-566-9076 or by e-mail at southloopcc@ameritech.net.

Church To Launch Food Pantry

South Loop Community Church, 1347 S. State St., will officially launch its food pantry ministry on Saturday, September 17, 2011. The food distribution hours are 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Those coming to the pantry can expect to receive a bag of groceries with a selection of canned and dry goods.

Those in need of groceries should enter the church’s south parking lot; the pantry entrance is located there. If you would like to help the SLCC’s food pantry ministry, they’re accepting donations of non-perishable foodstuff items for free distribution. Donations may be dropped off at the church during weekly office hours.

SLCC hopes to be able to offer food staples to the local South Loop community on a regular basis. The goal is to eventually work with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which will enable the church to purchase food reasonably to compliment what is donated.

Pantry entrance is by the south parking lot.

For more information, please call Antonio at 312-804-1519 or Rosa at 312-923-9068. If you would like to download and print a flyer to post in your building or office, click here.

Local Church Offering Free ESL Lessons

South Loop Community Church will be offering free English as a second language (ESL) classes from September 12 through November 21, 2011. All classes will be held on Mondays 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Classes are free, but there is a charge for books. To register and for more information, please call 312-566-9076.

If you’d like to help publicize these classes in your building or office, download a flyer by clicking here.

Around the South Loop: Christmas 2010

Christmas in the South Loop
Christmastime in the South Loop is special. With the mix of the old and new, the historical with the history making, the neighborhood's character is unique. When you look south on Prairie Ave. from 18th St., you can almost imagine what the street looked like when Marshall Field, Philip Armour, and George Pullman lived there.

History and Prairie Ave.
Some of the remnants of Prairie Ave. remain with us: the Kimball, Coleman, and Reid houses still stand. The home of John and Frances Glessner, at 1800 S. Prairie, is now the Glessner House Museum. The museum offers visitors a glimpse into society life in the late nineteenth century. The home is decorated in the English and American arts and crafts style which, before the Glessner's arrived on Prairie Ave., not too many people were familiar with.

The male servants entrance to the Glessner House.

Character Development
The South Loop neighborhood has developed it's own unique character. In the six years that I've lived in the area, I've seen many changes. I've stopped counting the new high-rises and town homes that were built since I bought my condo in 2004. Many businesses opened during those six years and unfortunately, some of them  didn't make it and are closed; it's tough being a small-business owner during these tough economic times. Still others survive and even prosper. That may be the reason the South Loop is still able to attract large retailers like Trader Joe's and Costco and small businesses like Donna's Cafe, which will be opening soon at 1255 S. State St.

SuccezZ athletic shoe store at 1329 S. Michigan Ave. has the coolest ashtray in town.

Maybe you bought a Christmas tree from Marcel Florist at 1471 S. Michigan Ave.

The Advent wreath at South Loop Community Church reminds us what the season is all about: Emmanuel, God is with us.

These sculptures look less menacing in the snow, but I'm still not a fan.

The tree at the Palmer House Hilton is pretty awesome, don't you think?

South Prairie Ave.: You can almost envision Marshall Field taking a stroll.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Come back soon to find out what the South Loop was reading in 2010. I'll be counting down the top-ten posts.

Sincerely,
Stephen Reginald
South Loop Connection

South Loop Community Church Dedicates New Building and Celebrates 10 Years in the South Loop

South Loop Community Church is dedicating their new facility on Sunday October 3, 2010.

South Loop Community Church will be dedicating their new church building at 1347 S. State St. this Sunday October 3, 2010. The church will also be celebrating ten years of ministry in the South Loop. Worship is at 10:30 a.m. with an all-church luncheon following.

Inside SLCC's new church building

For most of the ten years that the SLCC has been in existence, they have held church services at Sherwood Community Music School on S. Michigan Ave. The new church building is just two blocks west of the old location and convenient to most public transportation.

Church entrance at 1347 S. State St.

 For more information on SLCC, please visit their Web site.