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W E D N E S D A Y
November 24, 2021 Vol. 42, No. 17 ONE DOLLAR
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of Oak Park and River Forest
Inflation makes direct food donations critical to Beyond Hunger
GUID E TO
A BE TTER W ORLD See IN SIDE
BLAZE BILLOWS OVER LAKE
Costly turkeys and expensive boxes add to food pantry’s expenses By MELISSA ELSMO Oak Park Eats Editor
Ricardo Garcia has been managing Beyond Hunger’s food pantry, 848 Lake St., Oak Park, for seven years. He exudes the sort of unflappability that comes with years of experience, but rising food costs and supply chain issues have forced the veteran manager to shift his approach to stocking the pantry. “My goal is to keep the promises we have made to the families that use the pantry and maintain the services we have been offering for so many years,” said Garcia, senior pantry programs manager. Inflation has caused a surge in prices at the same time some food items are being rationed. Beyond Hunger provides a turkey for every client visiting the pantry in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and now those birds cost big bucks. “Last year we were able to purchase turkeys for as low as $1.25 pound and this year some of the turkeys cost us as much as $1.85 per pound,” said Sarah Abboreno Corbin, Beyond Hunger communications manager. Garcia noted the 60-cent swing may not seem like a “big deal,” but the price increase on turkeys alone accounted for a $12,000 increase in Beyond Hunger’s November budget. And the challenges don’t end there. The Greater Chicago Food Depository used to be a place where Garcia could “log in and order anything he needed” See BEYOND HUNGER on page 17
Fire broke out Tuesday morning in the building that houses Delia’s Kitchen, next door to the Lake Theatre. Heavy smoke filled the area and caused the closure of Lake Street. See story on page 9 BOB UPHUES/Editor
Protest reveals tangled web of issues
Trader Joe’s landlord wants to build apartments on Chicago hospital parking lot By MICHAEL ROMAIN Equity Editor
As shoppers at Trader Joe’s, 483 N. Harlem Ave. in Oak Park, inspected vegetables and produce and meat, fill-
ing their shopping carts on the last Sunday before Thanksgiving, a group of roughly a dozen activists held up signs and shouted slogans that varied on a single theme: Save Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago’s Uptown
community. Weiss is owned by Pipeline Health, a California private equity company that earlier this year agreed to sell one See PROTEST on page 18
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