This holiday season, nothing fills our hearts with more joy than giving back to the community. This year we have teamed up with Meals On Wheels Foundation of Northern Illinois to be a part of their $25,000 challenge with a matching gift of $2,500. Contributions will go toward building a community kitchen, purchasing local ingredients, and providing healthy meals to seniors. With a new kitchen in 2020, their facility will be able to double the number of meals produced annually. Access to better equipment and food sources will provide daily flavorful and healthy meals for seniors in Illinois. Learn More & Donate.
Meals On Wheels of Northern Illinois
Meals on Wheels operates in virtually every community in America through our network of more than 5,000 independently-run local programs. While the diversity of each program’s services and operations may vary based on the needs and resources of their communities, they are all committed to supporting their senior neighbors to live healthier and more nourished lives in their own homes. Last year alone, Meals On Wheels of Northern Illinois delivered more than 42,000 meals with the help of more than 400 volunteers. 84% of meal recipients say their Meals On Wheels driver is the only personal contact they have all week.
Celebrate #GivingTuesday with Lifeway by supporting some of our favorite organizations:
Pilot Light
One organization Lifeway supports is Chicago based Pilot Light! They help “kids make healthier choices by connecting the lessons children learn in their classrooms to the foods they eat on their lunch trays, at home, and in their communities.” Learn how to make Kefir Panna Cotta with one of the Pilot Light chefs, Sandra Holl:
Learn more about Pilot Light and donate here.
Test400k
Lifeway’s CEO, Julie Smolyansky, is the co-founder of Test400k, which aims to eliminate the backlog of 400,000 untested rape kits. The organization “was inspired by a recent Human Rights Watch report indicating that 400,000 evidence kits collected after alleged sexual assaults in the U.S. dating back to at least 1979 have been sitting in police storage facilities around the country without processing.”
You can learn more about Test400k and donate here.
Every Mother Counts
“Every Mother Counts is a non-profit organization dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother.” They “inform, engage, and mobilize new audiences to take actions and raise funds that support maternal health programs around the world.” You can learn more and donate here.
Common Threads
Common Threads aims to teach children, especially those from low-income families, how to cook healthy and tasty meals.
Through our cooking and nutrition programs and curriculum, we help prevent childhood obesity and reverse the trend of generations of non-cookers, while celebrating our cultural differences and the things people all over the world have in common.
At Common Threads, we bring our family-centric, hands-on program model with proven results to kitchens in low-income, urban communities across America. Our unique approach empowers children to eat healthy, make sustainable behavior changes, and celebrate culture through food.
You can learn more and donate to Common Threads here.
Charity Miles
If you’re a fitness enthusiast, then you’ll love Charity Miles. Charity Miles is a free iPhone/Android App that enables you to earn cash for charity by walking, running or biking. Learn more here.
PAWS Chicago
One of our favorite local charities is PAWS, which is a no-kill shelter and pet adoption agency based in Chicago. “Once safe at PAWS Chicago, every pet is treated as an individual and guaranteed life, no matter where they come from and what they need.” You can learn more and donate here.
Food Corps
FoodCorps connects kids to healthy food in school, so they can lead healthier lives and reach their full potential. You can learn more and donate to FoodCorps here.