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.

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.

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.

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.

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.