Annual Holiday Food Drive
This year, Auburn-Lincoln Park is inviting other block clubs to engage in “friendly competitions” to see which group could bring in the most in three (3) categories in the annual Tremont/Duck Island/Irishtown Bend Holiday Food Drive – of nonperishable food items and paper products along with cash and checks. The ultimate goal is to help food pantries, like St. Augustine, Pilgrim, St. John Cantius, St. Michael, Immanuel Lutheran, St. Malachi, Westside Catholic Center, and Greater Cleveland Food Bank to feed our near west families and children in need in the holiday season. The “Grand Prize Winner” for the 2019/2020challenge was Auburn-Lincoln Park – therefore, they are issuing the challenge for the upcoming 2020/2021 season.
For the third season, the competition featured the most participating block clubs (8): Auburn-Lincoln Park, Central Tremont, Duck Island, Holmden-Buhrer-Rowley/Mentor-Castle-Clark, Irishtown Bend, Metro North, and North of Literary – up from four (4) in 2014 – and were joined by a Tremont West staff team. Last season’s holiday food drive featured canned goods, paper products, and non-perishable food items collected (1,487) – and the money collected in cash and checks ($13,567). For the purposes of the Grand Prize in last season’s competition, which brought in more check donations than ever before, each dollar donated by check was considered equivalent to two items (for example a $50 check donation was considered to be 100 items of canned goods or 100 points counted in the Grand Prize competition).
2020 has been a challenging year for many families who have lost jobs due to COVID-19. When staff reached out to the block club chairs about doing the food drive this season, there was an overwhelming response that it is more important than ever to host the food drive. Each block club may be doing their collections a little different this year since there probably will not be any in-person meetings or holiday parties. Please keep an eye out for instructions through your individual block clubs. If you don’t know which block club you belong to there is a map on our website.
Tremont West staff is currently working on a plan to make it easier to track online donations, keep an eye out in the newsroom at www.experiencetremont.com with instructions. We do believe the safest and most efficient way is to mail your check to Tremont West made out to the food pantry of your choice, noting which block club you belong. If this is not an option, we will make it available to donate online, but please note that the donation will be minus any credit card fees charged for this service. Our plan is to have an option for you to pay the fee so that you get credit for the full donation. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to donate food and paper product items. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Tremont West is not allowing visitors inside our building, but you may still drop off food and paper product items on one of our two side porches at 2406 Professor Avenue. Please be sure to mark clearly on the donation which block club your items should be counted toward in the competition. To pay by check or credit card follow this link.
In the past three years, this friendly competition has donated $38,984, 10,382 food items, and one vehicle valued at $4,366 to our community food pantries. We know from the enthusiasm from our block club chairs, this year we’ll be able to continue in the spirit of sharing with our neighbors in need. If you have any questions about how you or your business can get involved, please do not hesitate in reaching out to our Community Involvement Manager, Scott Rosenstein at 216-575-0920, ext. 106 or scottrosenstein@tremontwest.org or our Community & Equity Organizer, Dharma Valentin at 216-575-0920, ext. 102 or dharmavalentin@tremontwest.org.