Restaurant table tents help spread word of Aurora Holiday Food Drive

As the Aurora Holiday Food Drive continues, officials are looking for any possible ways of spreading the word about the drive.

One way that has grown and been effective is table tents on the tables of popular area restaurants.

For the second year in a row, locally-owned restaurants have joined the food drive by displaying those table tents.

A person would see those tents at AC’s Pub in Aurora; Aurora Tap House in downtown Aurora; Breakfast Club of North Aurora; Calamity Janes in Sugar Grove; Craft Urban in Aurora; Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ in North Aurora; Eggsquisite Cafe in Montgomery; Harner’s Bakery, both Aurora and North Aurora locations; Los Girasoles in North Aurora; Nikarry’s Restaurant in Aurora; Open Range Southwest Grill in Sugar Grove; Orchard Valley Restaurant in Aurora; Pig Dog Pub in Montgomery; Reuland Food Service in Aurora; Taqueria Durango in North Aurora; and even at Agatucci’s Restaurant in Peoria.

The Holiday Food Drive is designed to help stock the shelves at the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, which serves more than 1,300 families in a given week.

The drive began Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 27.

It is operating as it has for years, through three grocery stores: Prisco’s Family Market, 1108 Prairie St., Aurora; Cermak Fresh Market, 1250 N. Lake St., Aurora; and La Chiquita, 1525 Douglas Road, Montgomery.

Depending on how each store does it, people can buy packaged bags of groceries of $5, $10, $15 and $20 as they go through the checkout line during normal shopping.

They also can buy a $20 virtual bag online, a feature added two years ago.

The pantry also takes monetary donations. The money is used to purchase food from the Geneva-based Northern Illinois Food Bank, and every $1 donated actually purchases $8 of food.

Both the virtual bags and the monetary donations can be done at the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry website, https://www.aurorafoodpantry.org/.

Monetary donations also still are taken the old-fashioned way, with checks mailed to the pantry at 1110 Jericho Road, Aurora, IL, 60506. Checks should be made out to Aurora Food Pantry.

The food drive also depends on volunteers who help in a number of ways, including passing out flyers promoting the drive at the participating grocery stores.

Ways to volunteer are also at the pantry’s website. Individuals and families often volunteer, but so do many businesses, churches, Scouting and student groups and other organizations.

Some organizations also conduct their own food drives during the Holiday Food Drive, and donate those to the pantry.

Sponsors of the Aurora Holiday Food Drive are Dolan and Murphy, Inc. real estate; Konen Insurance; Gerald Subaru of North Aurora; AuraLight Dispensary; Douglas Carpet One; Aurora Bank & Trust; Bob’s Discount Furniture; Oak St. Health; AC’s Pub; Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward; The Beacon-News; Aurora Fastprint; Cermak Fresh Market; La Chiquita; and 95.9 The River.

slord@tribpub.com