Our annual Conference Cause has generated more than $200,000 and engaged 175+ volunteers.
Conference Cause
Each year, thousands of PLUS members gather for an event that is considered the industry's leading professional conference. The PLUS Foundation uses this opportunity to engage volunteers and raise funds to support a local charity hosting the conference.
PLUS Foundation Conference Cause 2009:
Greater Chicago Food Depository
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago's food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in the community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 500,000 adults and children every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed more than 46 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of more than 95,000 meals every day.
The Food Depository opened a new 268,000 square foot warehouse and training center in 2004. The building brought all of the food bank's programs under one roof and became an international model for food banks. The state-of-the-art facility enhanced efficiency while offering increased capacity to respond to a rising need.
Innovative training programs and initiatives developed by the Food Depository also work to provide men, women and children with the tools necessary to break their individual cycles of poverty.
Going beyond just food distribution, the GCFD has a number of core programs, including:
- Chicago's Community Kitchens: Cooking and kitchen work instruction provided by professional chefs to unemployed and underemployed people looking to advance in the industry.
- Kid's Café & Nourish for Knowledge: Before & after school, and food take-home programs targeting impoverished children who may otherwise go hungry.
- Mobile Programs: Collecting and delivering perishable foods, as well as reaching parts of the community that would otherwise have difficulty accessing their services.
- Programs for Older Adults: Working with housing authorities and other partners to deliver meals to indigent elderly populations.
- Partner Instruction: Providing training and technical assistance to distribution sites, soup kitchens and others, to assure that food is handle safely, sanitarily and with the greatest efficiency.
For more information visit chicagosfoodbank.org.
In these economic times, the most basic of needs increase in demand. Hunger is pain. Food is survival. Give generously.
This will be the PLUS Foundation's sixth annual CONFERENCE CAUSE – a philanthropic initiative designed to reflect the generosity of the PLUS membership and to make a positive contribution to the communities that host the Annual PLUS Conference.
Conference Cause 2008:
- $25,000 was donated to the Child Life Program
- 6,000 "Welcome Packages" for children being admitted to the hospital were assembled and donated by PLUS Foundation volunteers
- Nearly 150 PLUS Foundation volunteers gave of their time and talent to Conference Cause 2008
Past Conference Causes
- 2007 - $56,000 to the Walter Reed Society, and a dinner/entertainment event for recovering soldiers and their families hosted by 48 PLUS Foundation volunteers.
- 2006 - $25,000 to Special Olympics/Special Children's Charities of Chicago, and 20 PLUS Foundation volunteers working the annual soccer tournament
- 2005 - $28,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Boston, and 20 volunteers held a bowling and pizza party for 100 kids and their mentors
- 2004 - $33,000 to the Armed Services YMCA of San Diego, and 23 PLUS Foundation volunteers fed over 300 servicemen and women from the USS Boxer
