Number of Items Collected (as of 11/12/2009):  1365 items

About Warm Hands and Full Hearts

Join Bishop Plumbing this holiday season by making a difference in our local community.  Bishop Plumbing is accepting donations of canned and dry food items as well as some paper products which will then be given to local food pantries in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and then distributed to local families who are in need.  Bishop Plumbing is offering customers $30.00 off their service bill in exchange for donating ten (10) cans of food or more.  To learn more about the Warm Hands and Full Hearts Food Drive, contact our office at 847-824-1800.

Acceptable Food Items

Bishop Plumbing will accept various canned and dry food items as well as some paper products accepted by local food pantries.  To see a complete list, download the Warm Hands and Full Hearts Food List here.

Hunger Facts

AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
The following information was taken from the 2006 Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities.  This 23-city survey was commissioned by the United States Conference of Mayors. 

• Officials in the surveyed cities estimated that during the past year, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 7%, with 74% of the cities registering an increase.
• Requests for emergency food assistance by elderly persons increased by an average of 18% during the last year, with 74% of the cities reporting an increase.
• On average, 23% of the requests for emergency food assistance are estimated to have gone unmet during the survey year.  For families with children, 18% of the requests for assistance are estimated to have gone unmet.  In 26% of the cities, emergency food assistance facilities may have had to turn away people in need due to lack of resources.
• Unemployment and other employment-related problems lead the list of causes of hunger identified by city officials.  Other causes cited, in order of frequency, include high housing costs, poverty or lack of income, medical or healthcare costs, substance abuse, utility costs, transportation costs and lack of education.
• Officials in 72% of the responding cities expect the need for emergency food assistance to increase during 2007.  Ninety-five percent expect that requests for emergency food assistance by families with children will increase during 2007.
• Fifty-three percent of the cities reported that emergency food assistance programs are able to provide an adequate quantity of food; 45% of the cities said they are not.
• Sixty-three percent of the surveyed cities report that during the last year, emergency food assistance facilities have had to decrease the number of food bags provided and/or decrease the number of times families and/or individuals come to get food.
  

AT THE LOCAL LEVEL:
The following information was taken from The National Hunger Study: Chicago Profile conducted by Greater Chicago Food Depository in conjunction with America’s Second Harvest.

• Nationwide, an estimated 25 million people depend on food and grocery assistance provided by network food banks and food rescue organizations.
• Close to 500,000 people each year rely on emergency and supplemental food provided by the Food Depository and its member network of almost 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. That figure represents a significant increase over previous studies conducted by the Food Depository and reflects census trends of poverty in Cook County. 
• Growing numbers of Cook County residents are relying on agencies for stop-gap food assistance.
  
• Working poor families, parents of young children and elderly are among those who need Food Depository assistance to help make ends meet.
• Thirty-nine percent of the households who receive food from the Food Depository include at least one employed adult.
• About 33 percent of the people the Food Depository serves are children under 18.
• 10 percent of study respondents were 65 and older.
• 25 percent of households served have at least one family member in poor health.
• 22 percent of clients surveyed live in the suburbs.
• 9 percent of clients are homeless.
• 41 percent of clients said they had to choose between paying for food and utilities or heating fuel.
• 31 percent reported choosing between paying for food and rent or mortgage.
• 26 percent of clients said they had to choose between food and paying for medicine or health care.
• 2 percent of clients with children said their children skipped meals during the previous year.
• 26 percent of adult clients said they didn’t eat for an entire day at least once during the last year.
• 81 percent of households reported a situation during the last year where the food they bought "just didn't last and they didn't have money to get more".