West Suburban Community Pantry to host 'Spring Into Wellness' event March 29
On Wednesday, March 29, West Suburban Community Pantry in Woodridge is presenting "Spring into Wellness," a program of family fun with food and fitness.
The free program will be 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the pantry at 6809 Hobson Valley Drive, Unit 118 in Woodridge.
It includes light fitness activities for adult and children, as well as cooking demonstrations and tastes of skillet penne with vegetables and pineapple blueberry smoothies.
Participants will be invited to create a wellness journal, with all materials provided. Giveaways include free recipe bags with ingredients, reusable water bottles and more.
"Spring into Wellness" is part of the pantry's expanded Thrive Beyond Food initiative, designed to provide a holistic approach to supporting customers' overall wellbeing through good nutrition plus housing and healthcare resources, transportation access, financial literacy education, job readiness training and other community resources. Support staff provide strategies, programs, resources and one-on-one counseling to help customers and their families overcome challenges and thrive.
"We recognize that there's a hierarchy of needs, and after we address the most immediate need for healthy food, we work to connect clients with additional information and resources to improve their quality of life," said Kristin Jachymiak, director of support services. "This wellness event is a free opportunity for our customers to learn about, and actively participate in healthy living. It is also a morning that families can spend together during spring break to have fun and to socialize."
"Spring into Wellness" is presented by West Suburban Community Pantry in cooperation with Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and University of Illinois Extension.
Participants should register by March 24 by calling (630) 948-8136 or emailing kjachymiak@wscpantry.org.
Serving over 6,800 individuals each month, West Suburban Community Pantry is integral to helping our low-income neighbors in DuPage and Will counties receive the nutrition they need to lead full lives. It is working to break down barriers to food assistance, implementing innovative new services to best help people in our community, and ultimately realize the vision of a community without hunger.
In addition to the on-site Pantry Store in Woodridge, it offers a Virtual Food Pantry facilitating online orders, and has multiple remote delivery sites across the region.
In addition, West Suburban Community Pantry works with many area schools and has instituted the region's first in-school pantry to serve families in a Romeoville elementary school where 80% of children are eligible for free or reduced fee lunch.
West Suburban Community Pantry also provides home delivery for home-bound seniors. The nonprofit collaborates with area agencies to offers a wide range of free programs designed to improve client families' quality of life. For more information, visit wscpantry.org.