Accessibility to food continues to be a challenge for families impacted by COVID-19. To help relieve this burden, Big Shoulders Fund will be distributing 10,000 meals to families in need in honor of Father’s Day, ensuring that families in these communities can share a hot meal together to celebrate the holiday. Meals will be provided by local restaurant and food service partners and distributed at thirteen locations in Northwest Indiana. Since the start of Big Shoulders Fund’s COVID-19 relief efforts, they have distributed more than 2,250 meals to families in need at Aquinas Catholic School in Northwest Indiana in collaboration with community restaurant partner Veteran’s Café.
Saturday’s meal distribution is made possible thanks to a generous donation from Bruce White, Founder and Chairman of Merrillville, Indiana-based White Lodging, and his wife Beth, who are both long-time supporters of Big Shoulders Fund. The Bruce and Beth White Family Foundation funded the expansion of Big Shoulders Fund’s programming to 20 schools in the Catholic Diocese of Gary in the fall of 2019.
Holy Angels Cathedral
640 Tyler St. (Gary)
Meal Distribution 12 - 2 pm
Restaurant/Food Service Partner: White Lodging School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Purdue Northwest
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana
2700 W. 19th Ave. (Gary)
Meal Distribution 12 – 2 pm
Restaurant/Food Service Partner: White Lodging School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Purdue Northwest
Community HealthNet + Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana
6100 Broadway (Merrillville)
Meal Distribution 12 – 2 pm
Restaurant/Food Service Partner: Veteran’s Café and Grill (Merrillville, IN)
Additional Meal Distribution Sites serving 12 – 2 pm
• St. John the Baptist School – 1844 Lincoln Avenue (Whiting)
• Bishop Noll Institute – 1519 Hoffman St. (Hammond)
• Purdue Northwest Campus – 2300 173rd (Hammond)
• St. Casimir School – 4329 Cameron Ave. (Hammond)
• St. John Bosco School – 1231 171st Pl. (Hammond)
• Boys & Girls Club of NWI – 2009 138th St. (East Chicago)
• Nativity of Our Savior School – 2929 Willowcreek Rd. (Portage)
• Notre Dame School – 1000 Moore Rd. (Michigan City)
• Queen of All Saints – 1715 E. Barker Ave. #5336 (Michigan City)
About Big Shoulders Fund
Big Shoulders Fund is an independent charitable organization that serves its network of 75 Chicago area schools, providing a quality, values-based education to nearly 20,000 children. In addition, as a result of a fully funded charitable donation, it has extended its programming to 20 schools in Northwest Indiana, reaching an additional 6,000 children. Inspired by the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Big Shoulders Fund was founded in 1986 by Chicago business and civic leaders, raising nearly $400 million to date, creating wider access to a network of schools for underserved, low-income students and increasing the capacity of the schools through academic programs, scholarships and enrichment, leadership development, and operational strategy and improvements. The success of these investments is demonstrated by stronger communities and the fact that 94 percent of Big Shoulders Fund students graduate high school, 85 percent of graduating scholars enroll in college the year following high school, and alumni graduate from college at twice the national rate, with African American and Latino alumni graduating from college at nearly 3x and 4x the national average, respectively. Equally important, alumni are employed, volunteer, and donate at rates higher than their peers. Big Shoulders has earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest evaluator of nonprofit, for 13 consecutive years, a distinction held by less than one percent of nonprofit organizations nationally.
