Long Grove church gives Thanksgiving dinner to 26 Wheeling families

Thanks to the generosity of a Long Grove church, needy families from one Wheeling school will enjoy a happy Thanksgiving even those who do not traditionally celebrated it.

This week, 26 families whose children attend Eugene Field School received gift baskets from Hope Lutheran Church in Long Grove. The baskets will enable them to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Tim Hughes, the church's director of stewardship, said the baskets were the result of a food drive aimed at helping needy families in the area, and he cold-called Field Elementary at the suggestion of one of the people in the congregation.

Hughes said the school's social worker told him anything the church could do to supplement their own efforts to help their families would be great.

Hope Lutheran set out to feed 16 families, but the generosity of their members made it possible to serve 26 families.

“The support from our congregation was unbelievable,” Hughes said.

The baskets went to a cross-section of families who have traditionally celebrated Thanksgiving and those from countries like Mexico who do not celebrate the holiday.

For the former, the baskets contained items like gravy mix, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing. For the latter, the menu was modified to contain refried beans, tamales and Mexican rice.

Hughes added that each basket also contained a $25 gift card to enable the families to purchase a turkey or, for certain Hispanic families, a ham.

For the food drive, congregation members also went to the Buffalo Grove Jewel to solicit donations. Willing customers would take menus from church members outside the store, then go inside and buy groceries, filling up three carts with donated items.

Field School social worker Monica Galarza said the school has a mix of families, from those living comfortably to those who are struggling to cope with lost jobs.

“We want to try and help as many as we can,” she said. “Unfortunately we can't help all of them.”

The goal for the school was to help those who not only were in desperate need, but also those who were still OK but still struggling.

The families that received the gifts were astonished to see the amount of food that filled the laundry baskets.

“When they saw the baskets and how big they are, and how much food was actually in them, they were just kind of dumbfounded,” Galarza said. “They were very generous donations.”