ROGERS PARK — Here are a few places in Edgewater and Rogers Park where you can donate or pick up Thanksgiving meal items, enjoy a free meal with others or just connect with neighbors.
Care For Real Food Drive: From now until Nov. 22, Edgewater's food pantry Care For Real will be collecting food items for Thanksgiving dinners that can be distributed to community members in need. Items like stuffing, pie crusts and filling, boxed potatoes, stuffing, canned fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices and more are needed. From 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, Care For Real will be at the corner of Berwyn and Clark in Andersonville collecting turkeys, clothing and other non-perishable items for a "Pack The Car" fundraiser that will also go toward feeding and caring for residents in need.
Edgewater Interfaith Service: The Edgewater Community Religious Association is holding its annual Interfatih Thanksgiving Service from 3-5 p.m. Sunday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1500 W. Elmdale Ave. As part of the festivities, choirs from 11 faith organizations in the neighborhood will perform songs for attendees with coffee and a reception to follow. A special collection taken during the service will benefit Care For Real's food pantry.
"Especially this year, with divisions so deeply dividing our nation, it is so very important that at the community level we find pathways to set aside our difference and stand together in gratitude for the abundance we at so very blessed with in this land," organizers said.
Rogers Park Police: For the eighth year, police in Rogers Park are helping to organize a free Thanksgiving Day meal with Tapas Valencia downtown at 1530 S. State Street. This year, the goal is to feed 1,000 Chicagoans in need.
A Church 4 Me MCC: Doors for a free Thanksgiving dinner will open at 11 a.m. (the meal will be served at noon) Thanksgiving Day at A Church 4 Me MCC, 7366 N. Clark St. in Rogers Park. The meal aims to feed those in search of a hot, traditional meal on the holiday with the belief that "nobody should be alone on Thanksgiving," the church said. Seats can be reserved by contacting Mike Schuppe at 847-529-8440 or mike123ptr@gmail.com.
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