The Salvation Army needs sponsors, volunteers for Brown Bag Lunch program

The Salvation Army Brown Bag Lunch Program is new to McHenry County. Recognizing a gap in lunchtime service to the homeless, they are teaming up with the community to fill the need, one brown bag at a time.

The guidelines for receiving a sack lunch are simple. If you're hungry, they are going to feed you.

Warm weather will bring the closing of temporary housing sites and new anxieties for the homeless population. Summer is often a time when homeless individuals begin to feel the most vulnerable. For many, it involves sleeping outside in tents or under trees and bushes and no consistent daily meals.

The new program will help fill the gap in nutrition during those summer months. The Brown Bag Lunch Program will provide a packed lunch to needy individuals in throughout McHenry County. Each brown bag lunch comes with a sandwich, fruit, a bottle of water and a dessert prepared by staff and volunteers in Crystal Lake. There are no requirements and no questions. The program wasn't created to exclude anyone, but rather to help those in need.

The brown bag lunch program is an opportunity to meet the basic need of nutrition in the homeless population of McHenry County. Distribution of the brown bag lunches will occur at sites throughout McHenry County to eliminate the need of transportation.

Currently, brown bag lunches are distributed on Wednesdays at The Salvation Army Corps Community Center in Crystal Lake and the Old Firehouse Assistance Center in Woodstock between 11:30 a.m. and noon. This program will expand on May 1, 2016 and increase numbers of locations and days meals are provided.

The long term goal of this program is to be able to provide a brown bag lunch 7 days each and every week April through September and eliminate hunger for our county's most vulnerable individuals.

One of the brightest spots in its work remains the tools to solve hunger are here and working together with the community, The Salvation Army can make a difference. There are many ways that individuals and organizations can join them and each has a direct impact in the lives of people who live in the community. They are looking for program sponsors, volunteer drivers and individuals that can donate a few hours each week to pack lunches.

For more information about how you can support The Brown Bag Lunch Program, call The Salvation Army at (815) 455-2769.