General Agency

  • Thanks to the support of our incredible donors, we raised over $10,000 on #GivingTuesdayNow to support our COVID-19 emergency response programming. Thank you! 

Meals

  • We received a supply donation from the Chicago Department of Public Health on Saturday. We will be passing out masks and individual sized hand sanitizer to meals participants all this week as folks stop by the Cafe in Uptown to pick up food. 
  • Up to 60% of individuals coming for meals are reporting that they are unsheltered and primarily sleeping on the trains. 

Inspiration Kitchens

  • Our partnerships with area shelters continue to ramp up. This week we began producing an additional 80 meals each week to Franciscan Outreach’s Franciscan Annex shelter, in addition to the meals we provide to Breakthrough Urban Ministries‘ Women’s Facility, and The Night Ministry.
  • Staff are beta testing an online version of a Foodservice Training orientation process this week and hope to roll it out next week for prospective students. 
  • In addition, staff are working to build out online modules for culinary and career advancement components of the course work. We are hoping to be able to provide an accelerated 4-week virtual training program with job placement services in the near future. This work is being executed with the support of Catalyst Kitchens, who is offering pro-bono workshops to help member agencies transition onto digital platforms. 

Housing

  • We have launched a new partnership with Top Box Foods to provide participants in our housing program with fresh food deliveries. This week, we are providing 54 vouchers for households to order boxes, and will be expanding the partnership in the coming weeks to serve more of our families. 
  • Housing staff delivered 33 urgent need kits including cleaning supplies, hygiene items, diapers, etc. to high-need households. 
  • Staff have also put together Kid Kits for families with snacks and activities for children.

Outreach

  • Our case manager will begin coming in to the Inspiration Cafe next week to provide drop-in case management on two days a week for individuals experiencing homelessness who are in need of emergency support. 

Ways to Help

If you are interested in contributing to Inspiration Corporation during this difficult time, please reach out to giving@inspirationcorp.org.

  • Our participants across all programs are in need of cloth masks or other PPE given the governor’s mandate that masks be worn in any situations that don’t allow social distancing.