Donors pledge to match $8,500 to combat hunger during COVID-19 crisis

A coalition of anonymous community members have pledged to match up to $8,500 of donations to provide relief to local senior citizens, children, and families facing hunger.

The match will apply to the "Spring into Action" campaign of the Humanitarian Service Project of Carol Stream.

In response to school closures, potential lost income, and the threat of increased isolation due to COVID-19, the charity will be increasing the amount of food support it provides to vulnerable kids and the elderly living in DuPage and Kane counties.

The funds raised by the campaign will be utilized to provide hunger relief to over 700 children, their families, and 140 senior citizens throughout DuPage and Kane counties.

Through its programs, the Humanitarian Service Project distributes 120 tons of groceries to low-income residents of DuPage and Kane counties.

"With the uncertainty facing our community due to the pandemic, we are preparing to provide additional food support to kids and the elderly," said Kristin Senne, executive director of the charity. "The generosity of these matching donors has given us a unique opportunity as a community to commit to our seniors and children to ensure that they do not go to bed hungry in this time of crisis."

For information, visit the Humanitarian Service Project website at www.hsp.agency or the Spring into Action Campaign at www.classy.org/campaign/help-feed-your-hungry-neighbors/c274964

The mission of the Humanitarian Service Project is to alleviate the pain and suffering that poverty brings to seniors and children in DuPage and Kane counties, Illinois. In 2020, during the Christmas Offering Project, 2,152 children and 140 seniors received gifts and over 20 tons of groceries being distributed. With the Senior Citizen Project, it provides monthly grocery deliveries of vital nutritious food, and other necessities to 140 low-income seniors. Through the Children's Project, HSP provides for the nutritional, emotional, and academic needs of more than 700 low-income children. In 2019, though the three programs, it distributed approximately 120 tons of groceries to people in need.