The Multicultural Leadership Club at Oak Park and River Forest High School held its fourth-annual Holiday Food Drive this year, gathering approximately 150 items for Thanksgiving. Faculty sponsors Francisco Achurra and Lee Williams said the club is continuing to collect donations before the upcoming winter holidays.
The club dedicates its time to supporting local causes. “We do a good job with helping our community feel good and helping people…in need,” said senior Gabe Ford, a leader in the club. “The more we donate, the more we can expand to other locations and do drop offs.”
The drive aims to benefit the Oak Park Community Fridge, a local charity not affiliated with the school that is run by OPRF teacher Anthony Clark. The initiative is aimed to help fight food insecurity by providing either fresh or donated foods for people in Oak Park and the surrounding suburbs.
Clark has been running the Oak Park Community Fridge for a year and a half now. He first started his non-profit Suburban Unity Alliance in 2016 and later opened the local fridges as part of his community outreach. The first Community Fridge opened outside Carnival Grocery Store, at 824 S. Oak Park Ave.
Clark said that while the fridges don’t fix all the world’s problems, they are a step in that direction. “I think that what the fridges are, they’re not a systemic answer, they’re not a systemic solution,” he said. “But we’re essentially helping someone get to the next day or next week, in hopes that one day there can be a solution.”
According to Clark, each month the donations have helped feed more than 100 people, including families. “Food drives like this allow us to sustain and allow us to continue to serve the community,” he said.
The fridges operate on a no-questions-asked basis. Anyone who needs food can come in and take what they need without fear of judgment or shame. This helps to remove the stigma associated with food insecurity and ensures that everyone in the community can have access to healthy and nutritious food.
Achurra said, “I think it’s important to think outside ourselves and know that every little bit can help. There can be students in your class that may seem like they’re doing okay, but they may be struggling secretly.”
All donations from the school specifically go to Community Fridges located at the Euclid United Methodist Church, 405 S. Euclid Ave. and the Boulevard Presbyterian Church, 607 Harvard St.
There is a large box in the Student Activity Center that is taken and emptied to the pantry weekly, and all perishable items, canned goods and anything worth giving to help make a difference.
Phylicia Nash, the secretary in the Student Activities Center, believes this is a great way to help those in need. “It gives them something to look forward to knowing that they’re going to have a meal that day,” she said. “Everyone should want to help…we have a lot more to be grateful for, that some don’t.”
