Food Depository Service Project
A Legacy of Humanism: Student Service at Local Food Depository
By Mindy Schwartz, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine
Students of all years gather to help serve the community at the GCFD
Over the past 20 years, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine has had an extraordinary commitment to humanism and helping those in the local community and beyond.
On January 17, 2009 a contingent of approximately 20 students and faculty from the University of Chicago continued this rich tradition as they packed food and supplies at the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) to help minimize hunger in our community. The entire event was spearheaded by Jami Rothe, MS4 and sponsored jointly by the Alpha Omega Alpha (ΑΩΑ) Honor Society and Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). In addition to the students, faculty leaders included the 2008 GHHS Keynote Speaker, Dr. Michael Mendoza, and GHHS chapter advisor, Dr. Mindy Schwartz.
The student leadership solicited students to participate and also helped to arrange rides to the depository, located close to Midway Airport. To better help the students understand what they can personally do to help hunger related issues, Dr. Schwartz, Course Director for Nutrition in Medicine, gave a lecture on Hunger Poverty and What We Can Do About It.
The GCFD is a non-profit food bank supplying the Chicagoland area. Food banks are an essential part of the social safety net for those who are underserved, in addition to other government programs and supplemental food stamps. The economic downturn has led to a significant increase in the number of people needing such services. Food banks distribute food though a network of food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. The food depository serves an astonishing 46 million pounds of food---the equivalent of more than 9500 meals. The organization is largely run by volunteers. More than 13,000 volunteers contribute the equivalent of 40 full-time staff. Volunteers do everything from packing trucks to assembling and repacking food to sorting produce. The University of Chicago contingent was one of 20 groups volunteering that day.
All who participated tremendously enjoyed the experience. It was an opportunity to make a tangible impact within the community and meet other volunteers from all walks of life and a variety of organizations. Those who participated in the food depository event unanimously agreed that the success of the day and the powerful feeling of improving the lives of those who live in our backyard and neighborhood were both exhilarating and immensely motivating.
