This week we are sharing an in depth look at the work Inspiration Kitchens catering has been doing to support Chicago area shelters and nonprofit organizations.
Due to COVID-19, Inspiration Corporation altered normal operations starting the week of March 16, 2020, closing the restaurant and catering business to the public. The last ten weeks have brought challenges as well as opportunities to become creative and offer services in new and different ways.
In late March, Inspiration Corporation started a partnership with Breakthrough Urban Ministries to provide meals for the people in their Women’s Facility shelter. This effort was generously funded by Waterton, and executed by the Inspiration Kitchens catering team. We began by agreeing to provide 60 individually packaged meals on 11 different days in April.
In early April, our catering team began producing 50 meals two days each week for the Night Ministry’s mobile outreach team. After gaining more funding for this program, we were able to gradually expand until we were producing more than 800 meals each week for Breakthrough Urban Ministries and The Night Ministry by the end of May.
As we expanded in early May we began producing an additional 80 meals each week to Franciscan Outreach’s Franciscan Annex shelter.
In mid May, our boxed lunch partner agencies grew to include Institute for Nonviolence, Victory Outreach, and Healthcare Alternatives Systems. We are now serving 1,000 meals a week to people in need at six different non profit organizations. It is incredible to be able to support Chicagoans and other organizations in this difficult time! We are extremely grateful to the donors who have made this possible.
In order to continue providing these meals each week, Inspiration Corporation needs to raise $55,000. If you would like to sponsor a meal, please visit our website.