Fraternity Brothers Look Forward to a Huge Haul for Elmhurst Yorkfield Food Pantry

We hope those fraternity guys from Lambda Chi Alpha at Elmhurst College have been eating their spinach, because they're going to have to haul thousands of pounds of food to the Elmhurst Yorkfield Food Pantry this weekend. At least that's the hope.

The boys from Lambda Chi have been leading the semi-annual drive—the biggest of the year for the pantry—for nearly a decade. Grocery stores in the area, including Jewel, Dominick's and Mariano's, donated a total of 2,200 paper grocery bags to the cause. Last Sunday, Oct. 27, the boys went house to house passing them out. 

They planned eight routes around the pantry and the college, and eight groups of fraternity brothers distributed them. 

"We had no problem depleting our bags, as our routes are rather large," coordinator Vince Arcari said. 

The group is hoping all of the homes that received a bag will fill it with food. The boys will go back and pick up the filled bags on Sunday, Nov. 3. 

They weigh in their haul at the pantry, and it's typically around 3,000 to 4,000 pounds, food pantry volunteer Jacki Lawrence said. She is grateful for residents' response.

"Often, Elmhurst neighbors will donate cash, gift cards and checks, as well," she said. "Each item they are able to put out on their porch for the fraternity to collect helps needy families in our area."

Arcari said the fraternity is proud of the work it does for the pantry.

"Our chapter has done this semi-annually since it was founded in 2004, and it continues to be a tradition that we value and work hard to support," he said.