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Our outreach and advocacy for those suffering hunger, malnutrition, or lack of food security is coordinated through our Hunger Committee and through Episcopal Charities and Community Services.

In response to God’s call for compassion, love, and service, the Hunger Committee:

  • Communicates about hunger prevention and relief efforts, using diocesan e-news and other media;
  • Supports educational programs and resources on hunger and related issues in order to raise awareness, guide action, and advocate for hungry people;
  • Promotes changes in public policy that would make available more food for hungry people and would impact the root causes of hunger;
  • Represents the diocese in state, national, international, and ecumenical organizations and activities that fight hunger;
  • Participates in local efforts to raise awareness of and funds for local feeding programs and international relief and development.
  • Provides small grants to diocesan congregations and ministries to provide direct food relief in their communities.

The Hunger Committee serves as a resource for congregational and regional feeding programs, education on hunger issues, and advocacy efforts on behalf of those with food insecurity. Read the Hunger Committee’s annual report to the 2022 Diocesan Convention.

CROP Hunger Walks

Representatives from the Hunger Committee help to organize the Chicago CROP Hunger Walk and promote other hunger walks throughout our diocese. The committee is one of the recipients of the 25% local portion of Chicago CROP Walk funds and distributes them to Chicago Episcopal congregation-based soup kitchens, food pantries, and other feeding programs that apply for its small grants each year. In spring 2023, the Hunger Committee distributed $1,713 from the 2022 Chicago CROP Hunger Walk to St. Thomas and Messiah-St. Bartholomew churches, which participated in and supported the walk, for their hunger ministries.

2022 & 2023 Hunger Grants

In September 2022, the committee awarded a total of $4,600, to twelve hunger programs in our diocese: St. Ann’s, Woodstock; St. Charles in St. Charles; Calvary, Lombard; and Atonement, Messiah-St. Bartholomew, and St. Thomas in Chicago.

The 2023 Hunger Grant application is open until Monday, August 28, 2023. Apply online using this form.

Bread for the World May 2023 Meeting

The Hunger Committee encourages education and advocacy about hunger issues. It is the conduit for the diocese’s membership in Bread for the World, a national ecumenical hunger advocacy organization, and the Illinois Hunger Coalition, which organizes state level advocacy and helps families or individuals apply for food assistance and find feeding programs in their communities.

Bread for the World is the most prominent national, Christian advocacy organization working to end hunger in the U.S. and abroad and a longstanding partner of The Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago has been a member of Bread for the World for decades through the Hunger Committee’s work. For more information contact the Rev. Gary Cox.

View the video below from the May 2023 Midwest Regional Meeting, including information about the Offering of Letters to advocate for the 2023 Farm Bill.

Anti-Hunger Ministries

View Diocese of Chicago locations currently offering food pantries and meal programs on the diocesan asset map below. If your congregation has a feeding ministry not listed on the map or the list below, please contact Jen Boyle-Tucker for help updating your congregation’s listing.