Skeleton Key Brewery partners with West Suburban Community Pantry to fight food insecurity
Woodridge-based Skeleton Key Brewery has committed to supporting West Suburban Community Pantry in Woodridge and Wheaton-based The GardenWorks Project in their efforts to fight food insecurity in the regional community and help ensure our neighbors have access to fresh, healthy food.
The Skeleton Key team will be hosting volunteer days at the Pantry to help with restocking, sorting, and packing food.
In addition, the brewery is partnering with Copper Fox Farm and The GardenWorks Project to teach people how to grow healthy vegetables from heirloom seeds to help stock the Pantry through the summer months.
Participants may bring their home grown produce to Brewery drop-off events twice a month through the growing season to receive Skeleton Key Taproom perks.
"Food security is something we tend to take for granted, and it's a bigger issue than I think a lot of people realize," says Skeleton Key owner Emily Slayton. "We believe everyone should have access to fresh, healthy food. We've always been a community-focused business and knowing that the West Suburban Community Pantry is such a vital resource for so many people right in our community means that by supporting their efforts, we're also supporting the needs of our neighbors."
Skeleton Key is also planning a special beer to benefit these nonprofit partners later this year, growing some of the ingredients at the GardenWorks Project's garden at the DuPage County Fairgrounds.
People can also volunteer to help tend the garden as a way of contributing.
Established in 2016, Skeleton Key Brewery is a family-owned and -operated microbrewery and taproom located in Woodridge. They believe that craft beer is at its best when it blends a variety of palates and perspectives, and they aim to foster an inclusive environment in which individual differences are recognized, appreciated and respected. The brewery's 8,500-sq. ft, facility houses a 15bbl steam-fired brewhouse and three taproom seating areas with two separate bars. In addition to beer, the owners of Skeleton Key Brewery are passionate about education, community, live music, and bad movies.
For more information on the volunteer opportunities sponsored by Skeleton Key Brewery, visit skeletonkeybrewery.com/volunteer.
The West Suburban Community Pantry offers food for the hungry and social service support and resources to empower people to improve their quality of life. Serving over 6,800 individuals each month, it is integral to helping low-income neighbors in DuPage and Will Counties receive the nutrition they need to lead full lives. The West Suburban Community Pantry is working to break down barriers to food assistance, implementing innovative new services to best help people in the community, and ultimately realize the vision of a community without hunger.
In addition to the on-site Pantry Store in Woodridge, the 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. It also provides home delivery for home-bound seniors. The Pantry collaborates with several area agencies and offers personal counseling support and a wide range of free programs designed to improve client families' quality of life. Learn more at wscpantry.org.