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HELPING EACH OTHER COPE WITH COVID19: Mission News and Updates

As the COVID-19 situation continues, we have decided that... (See timeline pictures below)

-The Tuesday pantry and the mobile pantry will remain open

-Limited volunteer opportunities are available. Details:

  • Volunteers must be 16 and up until August 2021. 16-18 year olds’ parents/ guardians must sign the provided COVID waiver. 
  • If you are vaccinated, you do not need to follow travel restrictions and are welcome to volunteer at events without a mask 
  • If you are NOT vaccinated, you must follow the current rules on the Chicago COVID guidelines page and wear a mask while volunteering. 

- We will continue to accept ALL FOOD DONATIONS, toiletries, and COVID-19 prevention items (masks, hand sanitizer etc.). Please call or e-mail if you'd like to bring these donations by- olamission@gmail.com / 773-486-8431 or buy food for us on the Amazon wish list HERE.

-We CANNOT accept ANY used donations - clothing, household goods etc. Please hold ALL of these things until after this is over and we will be happy to accept it. 

COVID-19 food pantry press:
-Chicago Tribune
-Chicago Catholic
-Al Jazeera
-Chicago Tribune (part 2)
July 2021

7/18/21

We are back inside! We are so grateful for the many people who assisted us in this transition- especially the Greater Chicago Food Depository! We served 312 families in person on Tuesday- a new indoor record on day 1! We also did about 100 deliveries for a grand total of 412 families.

7/10/21

Last Tuesday was our last, outdoor COVID time pantry!!!!! Thank you to all who made our COVID time pantry possible. We are extremely grateful for your incredible generosity and support. It is estimated that we had 45,000 individual visits/deliveries while the pantry was outdoors (March 2020 and July 2021).

Check out this time lapse of the last outdoor pantry!

7/4/21

We are very blessed that the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Sherriff helped with senior deliveries the ENTIRE pandemic. Last Tuesday (6/29) was their last Tuesday. We are shifting to our new senior delivery drivers next week.

June 2021

6/20/2021

We are VERY excited to be partnering with the Alexian Brothers to continue our senior/ homebound food delivery program post COVID! We are very excited to be able to provide this very essential + needed service.

We will provide the food and the Alexian Brothers will be delivering it in their amazing van!
Thank you to ALL who helped make this possible.

6/13/2021

Estimated 3 more weeks for the outdoor pantry! Most of our guests have been entered into the data system. We will do a COVID time highlight post and close this page next week!
Shout out to the greater Chicago Food Depository for helping us to get amazing new produce boxes for our neighbors!

6/6/2021

 

 

A special shout out to Starbucks who has been providing food for us almost DAILY here at Mission of Our Lady of the Angels. We are pretty sure we receive more Starbucks donation than any other location in Chicago + we for sure process quadruple the amount of Starbucks food of an actual Starbucks!
May 2021

5/23/2021

 

 

We served 686 families at the pantry on Tuesday AND began the data entry process- which is the first step towards moving the pantry back inside. Thank you all for your continued support!
We also gave away 40 new mattresses on Saturday!

5/16/2021

We’re proud to announce that we’re one of 175 organizations around Illinois receiving grants from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois COVID-19 Community Collaboration Fund. THANK YOU BCBSIL!

5/9/2021

 

We are excited to let everyone know that we will be slowly (quite slowly) transitioning back to the indoor, client choice pantry. The first step is neighbor data entry, which will begin on Tuesday, June 1. We will need LOTS of extra help during the transition. If you are able to help on Tuesdays, please e-mail olamission@gmail.com. Thank you for your continued support!
April 2021

4/10/2021

Single day record of quantity of food received at Mission OLA!
48 pallets of food in ~8 hours

  • 36 pallets of nonperishable from Midwest Food Bank/ Morton Apostolic Church for long term use
  • 8 pallets of food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository distributed at the mobile pantry
  • 2 pallets of amazing frozen chicken from Hunger Resource Network
  • 2 pallets of meals from Uncle Pete's ministries

THANK YOU to all who helped witness to the amazing providence of God yesterday! We are very grateful.

4/4/2021

Thank you so much to all who donated to our amazing Easter pantry! We gave away hams, chocolate bunnies, fresh strawberries, potatoes, and much more. Easter blessing W. Humboldt Park!
Also, watch the whole pantry in 28 seconds! Time lapse pantry!
March 2021

3/28/2021

Thank you to the Chicago Police Department who continue to help with our senior delivery as well as with traffic control at the Tuesday pantry. Check out this great video.

3/14/2021

Thanks SO much to the Chicago Police Dept. for their continued support of Mission OLA's pantry- both as a security presence and as delivery vehicles for our senior deliveries.
We were blessed that Commander Barz and his team visited us at the pantry today!
February 2021

2/17/2021

We had an impromptu pantry on Wednesday after the 20 in of snow on Tuesday!
We distributed 1000+ boxes of food to several hundred families. We will make it through this exciting Chicago winter!

2/7/2021

Chicago winter is not stopping us! We served over 700 families between the Tuesday and mobile pantry this week. Thanks for your continued support.

January 2021

1/31/2021

Snow won’t stop us!!! Snow from Monday- Tuesday of last week didn’t halt the pantry. We still served 543 families at the pantry on Tuesday. Thank you for all your continued support.

1/17/2021

Thanks for everyone’s continued amazing support of the pantries. We served 1178 and 928 families at the last two Tuesday pantries respectively. The need continues to be extremely high. Our Amazon wish list for food is still HERE. We need more volunteers on Tuesday as well! If you can join us 7:30 AM to 11 AM on Tuesdays we would love to have you- e-mail olamission@gmail.com to sign up to come!

1/10/2021

-We are prepping for a winter/ spring full of activity! We need help every Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday with the pantry/ construction tasks. Please e-mail Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com to sign up to help!

December 2020

12/15/2020

We served 1017 families at the pantry on Tuesday! Main conclusion- everyone loves ham! Thanks for everyone’s continued amazing generosity.
Mission OLA’s pantries featured in the Global Sister’s Report.

12/1/2020 and 12/5/2020

Between the Tuesday and mobile pantry, we served 1001 families the week of 11/30. The need is very great and will grow most certainly through Christmas and likely through the beginning of 2021. We also distributed over 1500 coats on 12/5. Here are some highlights!
All pantries will continued to be outside all of winter 2020-21.

November 2020

11/8/2020

This week's Tuesday pantry + Saturday pantry = 847 families served. Thank you for your amazing support!

October 2020

10/4/2020

 

 

 

Thank you to Seeds of Service from St. Isaac Jogues for donating TONS AND TONS of non-perishable food. Thank you for easingthe anxieties of getting through Christmas!

September 2020

9/13/2020

Bishop Elect Bob Lombardo continues his work at Mission of Our Lady of the Angels! He will remain here after his ordination on 11/13/20.

9/6/2020

We wanted to make the grand announcement that Thanksgiving and Christmas have not been and will not be cancelled at Mission OLA! We will be doing some TBA exciting outdoor events. Keep checking in here for all the info. If you want to get involved in some capacity by colleting donations etc. please e-mail olamission@gmail.com.

August 2020

8/30/2020

September mobile pantry is on September 12 NOT on September 5. Please check out the above requirements and RSVP if you’d like to help.
We served 2720 families at the pantries in August! Thanks for the continued support.

 

8/16/2020

The incredible team of college students who were helping us all spring/ summer have left to go back to school. We need more help at the Tuesday pantry from 7:30 AM to 12 PM. If you are able to help, please e-mail Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com to confirm (if you meet the above requirements).

 

8/2/2020

We are looking for more help on August 15 with our BACK TO SCHOOL give away! If you are able to help us distribute school supplies from 8:30 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, August 15, please e-mail olamission@gmail.com. All the neighborhood kids need school supplies if they’re going to school at home or at school! Thanks for considering.

And, THANK YOU, Equipment Depot, for your AMAZING donation of an electric and manual pallet jack to us here at Mission of Our Lady of the Angels. We are very grateful!
July 2020

7/26/2020

We served 702 families at the Tuesday pantry this week!! Thank you for all the continued support.
We need help at the mobile pantry at 8/1 (you'll need to meet the above guidelines). We also need help at the back to school give away on 8/15 (also assuming you meet the above guidelines). If you are able to join us, please e-mail Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com.

Mobile pantry
8/1 @ Kelly Hall (824 N. Hamlin)
7:30 am to 12 pm

Back to school give away
8/15 @ the school (3814 W. Iowa St.)
8:30 am to 1 pm

7/12/2020

Our seniors/ homebound delivery program (in partnership with Northwestern and MedSpeed) was featured as part of an article featuring innovative solutions to COVID-19 related health problems. HERE (search “Northwestern”). Also, over 650 families served between the Tuesday and mobile pantry this week!

7/5/2020

Our home deliveries to seniors and homebound people continue thanks to our many partners including CPD and the Sherriff as pictured here. CPD and the Sherriff deliver food to those in need. THANK YOU to all who have made our home delivery program possible.
June 2020

6/14/2020

542 at the first ever Mission OLA drive through pantry! Neighbors had the choice to either drive through the pantry or walk up. It is a great success!

6/7/2020

W. Humboldt Park and the west side were dramatically impacted by the looting last weekend. Most stores providing essential services (grocery stores, pharmacies) are closed because of the looting and vandalism.
Our pantries have remained open. Between our 2 pantries this week, we provided food to over 769 families, which doesn’t include our spontaneous give away of 5000 lbs. of meat on Saturday afternoon.
All who have attended any pantry have received at least a week’s worth of balanced meals.
May 2020

5/24/2020



We had a RECORD 729 people at the pantry on Tuesday, May 19. We are VERY blessed to be the recipients of some of the food through the new USDA subsidy program.....12,000 lbs of it!

 

 

 

 

5/17/2020

The Chicago Tribune featured our partnership with the Asian American Police Officers, which is part of our COVID-19 home delivery program. Thank you to all who help make this happen! See the article HERE (subscription required).
We also have continued to receive tons (literally) of beautiful food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, as the picture of our fridge shows. We found out this week we will be receiving food from the new USDA subsidy program, which will dramatically increase the amount of food each person will get at the Tuesday pantry. Thank you for all the continued support!

 

5/10/20

 

 

We have served over 500 families each week at the food pantry for the past month. We’ve only been able to do this through the generosity of thousands of people. Here is a page giving you a sense of what the pantries have been like during COVID-19.

5/2/20

 

We served 643 people at the Tuesday pantry and 285 people at the mobile pantry this week. Thank you!

 
April 2020

4/26/20

We need masks! With the new regulations regarding ALL people needing to wear masks outside of the home, we are hoping to distribute masks at the food pantry. Can you make a mask? Yes, you can!
Here are the sew and non-sew options from the CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/…/prevent…/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html
If you are able to make masks and send to us, please do so:
Mission of Our Lady of the Angel
3808 W. Iowa St.
Chicago, IL 60651
If you are able to wash the masks and put in ziplock bags before sending and write "washed" on the bag that would be a HUGE HELP.
Let us know if you have a question on this by e-mailing olamission@gmail.com.
AND! Thank you Chicago! Because of your extraordinary generosity we still have food. We are distributing ~20 pallets of food PER WEEK. Keep the food donations coming!

4/19/20
Mission OLA was featured internationally on Al Jazeera.

4/11/20

 

 

 

We served 555 individual families at the Tuesday pantry!

4/4/20

We served 342 families at the Tuesday pantry and ~225 families at the mobile pantry on Saturday! Thank you for all of your support and prayers. Additionally, here are the 500+ bags we have prepped for Tuesday’s pantry.

March 2020

-The actual Shamrock Shuffle was cancelled. Team OLA is now running in a virtual race! All are welcome to join by either joining the facebook group HERE or e-mailing Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com . A virtual race is when you run wherever you are and post your results/ pictures on a website. We will be having some contests with prizes!
  Mission of Our Lady of the Angels  
Call Us / FAQs 3808 W. Iowa St., Chicago, IL 60651 Send e-mail (olamission@gmail.com)