Current Temperature

CHICAGO WEATHER
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

CBS Chicago: Fire shutters iconic Calumet Fisheries smokehouse

 

[VIDEO] I don't recall ever visiting this place but I know this is a hot spot. 

Calumet Fisheries was in the news already for failing a health inspection, however, today there was a fire and that means it might be a while longer before they're back in business. CBS Chicago was on the scene to speak with a manager for this establishment. He says they will be back!

Amazing they've been in the same building since the 1920s and under the same ownership or at least the same family owners since the 1940s. Located on 95th just before crossing over the Calumet River bridge.

Has anyone ever been there? What do you think about the food they serve?

Friday, November 4, 2022

ABC 7 Chicago: Chicago's 'Donut King' celebrates 50 years on South Side

 

[VIDEO] Anytime I see anything on Old Fashioned Donuts located in the "Roseland Business Strip" at 11248 S Michigan Ave I always say I want to go get some donuts from there. Here's a story WLS-TV did on the local longtime neighborhood food establishment. It's great to see Burritt Bulloch who is the owner still working hard with family at this donut establishment.

Perhaps at a nearby polling place donuts will be served to election judges and voters in Tuesday's election.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Mr. Beast feeding a city in need

 

[VIDEO] I shared one Mr. Beast video here already might as well share another one. He has another YouTube channel that involved philanthropy and he shows himself distributing meals to a community in his home state of North Carolina that needs it.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Free produce distribution for Greater Roseland #Ward09

The flyer here you may have seen in a recent e-mail blast from Ald. Anthony Beale's office. This event will happen on Friday at the Dollar Tree Parking Lot located on 209 E. 103rd Street. Across from the Burger King and Churches. Open to anyone who is in need of support. Refer to flyer below


 

Monday, March 1, 2021

Food pantry coming to 119 E. 95th Street #Ward09

119-121 E. 95th St

This building has been vacant perhaps for over a year it was formerly home to an insurance company, and for many years before that it used to be a Trailways bus depot until that company got bought out by Greyhound. Of course that was at least back in the 1990s. Now it has another hat:

Endeleo Institute, a community group in the majority-Black Washington Heights and Roseland neighborhoods on the city’s Far South Side, received a grant that will allow it to open a food pantry at 119-121 E. 95th St., in a 3,500-square-foot building that once housed an insurance business.

“It’s going to be nothing like a traditional food pantry,” said Executive Director Melvin Thompson. “We really want to dignify the space, to destigmatize this.”

It will be a choice pantry, where people can select what they want. The plan is to offer cooking demonstrations, nutrition education and a financial opportunity center to help people with budgeting.

The building sits on a 12,000-square-foot lot and the hope is to eventually bring a mobile pharmacy to fill a gap left by the closure of several neighborhood pharmacies over the years, Thompson said.

“We really want to take advantage of people coming through the door and fortifying them beyond food but with things that will help them along the way,” Thompson said. He expects to serve 500 to 1,000 people weekly.

West Chesterfield and Roseland Heights Community Associations will partner with Endelo who is affiliated with Trinity Church further west on 95th Street per an e-mail that was forwarded to me.

The main thing is those who aren't able to put food on the table will have somewhere else to go to fill their pantries in their homes. 

Monday, December 21, 2020

CPS Holiday Meal Giveaways

The below image is from state Sen. Elgie Sims email blast. Regarding CPS Holiday Break Meal Giveaways. Want to know locations visit www.cps.edu/mealsites or call 773.553.KIDS (5437).

Before Christmas you can pick up your meal kids on Monday thru Wednesday or December 21st thru 23rd this week from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at a mealsite near you.

These are a few nearby mealsites:

  • BENNETT -10115 S PRAIRIE AVE
  • BROOKS HS - 250 E 111TH ST
  • BURNSIDE - 650 E 91ST PL
  • CORLISS HS - 821 E 103RD ST
  • CULLEN - 10650 S EBERHART AVE
  • DIXON - 8306 S SAINT LAWRENCE AVE
  • FERNWOOD - 10041 S UNION AVE
  • GARVEY - 10309 S MORGAN ST

 

Friday, December 11, 2020

ABC 7 Chicago: Roseland church spreads joy, feeds community members with hot meal delivery service


[VIDEO] The necessary work of the Allen Metropolitan C.M.E. Church located at 10946 S. Lowe Ave:

"We feed our block club members, we feed our congregation, the sick and the shut-in and any other persons that have a need for a hot meal," volunteer Sharon Hendricks said.

With carry-out and delivery, the Allen Metropolitan C.M.E. Church is making sure their neighbors have access to a hot meal.

The church started hosting a weekly community meal in 2018, but when the pandemic began, the need for their services grew.

"Our numbers have escalated because of the tremendous need in the community," Pastor David Bryant Jr. said. "Now, all of our meals now are prepared to go."

Meals are prepared and packed in the church's Fellowship Hall, then hand-delivered to community members every Wednesday afternoon.

Also:

But this wouldn't be possible without some help, from local block clubs, community centers and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

"That allowed us to have more resources and for us to focus on getting the food out," Pastor Bryant Jr. said.

Because right now, their services are needed more than ever.

"There's no obstacle that we can't overcome by working together. No one should ever be hungry in our community," Pastor Bryant Jr. said. "It's a lack of our ability to have empathy, compassion and love for each other. We can do this and we're going to get through this together."

You can help Feed the Love by donating to our virtual food drive.

If you're in need of food, you can call 773-247-FOOD or click here to locate a food pantry near you.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Food insecurity

 

[VIDEO] The video above from ABC 7 should cause us to be thankful to be able to put foot on the table during this pandemic. According to this report food insecurity has risen exponentially. Food distribution via the Greater Chicago Food Depository is up 50% since January. From November 2019 compared to November 2020 the need has become 125% higher.

According to Jim Conwell of the Greater Chicago Food Depository many are turning to food pantries for the first time in their lives. The current situation is unlike anything he's ever seen in his organizations 41 year history.

I also wanted to share with you a story regarding My Block My Hood My City's Jahmal Cole who stated that it matters to him if someone is hungry in other parts of the city. It should matter to all of us if someone is hungry.

Uprecented times. Here's hoping you and yours are managing.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

No one should ever go hungry...

[VIDEO] If I ever come upon a significant amount of cash, one thing I would like to do is donate money to a food bank. I do believe barring anything else, everyone should be able to eat. And I wish I had shared this earlier in the pandemic once the nation started these lockdowns.

Going downtown every now and then you find someone begging for money to eat or asking for food. And it seems as if they have no excuse if there are soup kitchens or food pantries available so that if you're hungry you can eat. No need to beg you will be provided for.

So this is why I'm sharing this video. YouTuber Mr. Beast aka Jimmy Donaldson does a number of outrageous videos and occasionally gives away money to people in challenges. There was one video where he took over a closed bank branch and gave away free money. Of course let me emphasize many of his videos shows a young man having a lot of fun with his friends.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Konkol: Roseland's Only Steak House Survives Tough Times Down At 'The Ranch'

Yolanda Pierce at right and two of her workers - Photo by Mark Konkol
All the times I passed this place on Michigan Ave and never been inside. It seems to be one of the few consistent businesses on this stretch. It survived a long time and apparently still does although times and demographics have changed since this business opened in 1969.
On a morning stroll, I hiked west from Pullman and under the 113th Street viaduct that leads to the wrong side of the tracks.

I walked past Palmer Park, where the faint scent of marijuana hung in the cool, humid air, and headed up the hill toward Michigan Avenue — Roseland’s once-vibrant shopping strip now populated by hustlers, pimps and dealers who openly cater to the vices of the addicted, the desperate and the damned — on my way to “The Ranch.”

That’s what locals call the neighborhood’s only surviving steak joint, where you can get a T-bone, charbroiled just the way you like it, with a baked potato and salad for less than 20 bucks. And they serve tasty breakfast — two eggs with hash browns and toast for under $5 — all day long.

The late John Kapsaskis opened The Ranch Steak House at 11147 S. Michigan Ave. in 1969. Back then, Roseland was home to mostly blue-collar white families who later fled to the suburbs when black folks moved in and good-paying steel mill jobs dried up. His son, Dino — “The Greek Cowboy,” as one photo behind the counter calls him — kept the family steakhouse going even as the neighborhood’s population changed and its economy slumped.

Inside the front door is a far different world than the one left behind on the sidewalk. A set of bull horns hang from the ceiling. A sign welcomes customers to a dimly lit dining room decorated with carved Indian chief statues and faded photos of cowboys, those rifle-toting white men on horseback from Hollywood westerns.
Yolanda Pierce runs the ranch although the family who owns it no longer appears to be involved. Pierce's ex-fiance who's family runs the business is out taking care of his elderly mother in Greece. So now it's Pierce:
She’s the blond-haired, blue-eyed gal, a former hair stylist from Griffith, Indiana, who runs The Ranch now that Dino Kapsaskis — the owner and her ex-fiance — packed up and moved to Greece to take care of his 93-year-old mother.

Pierce’s friends tell her she should be angry that Kapsaskis left her to run The Ranch by herself, unsure if he’ll ever return.

“Even though he is my ex, this is his business. Dino could have sold this place. He always said business is business. He felt like he was doing me a favor. If I go anywhere else I’ll make minimum wage. What can I do?” Pierce said.

“We still care about each other enough to keep it going. I’m not mad at him. He did what he had to do. I’m taking care of my mother. I take care of my daughter. I do what I got to do.”
If you read the rest of the article she'll not that this place considering it's location isn't making a huge profit but she emphasizes how she helps her employees:

She doesn’t just do it for herself and her own family. The Ranch is the lifeblood that keeps a lot of people — her dishwasher, waitresses and cooks and even Kapsaskis, whom Pierce sends cash she considers “rent” — on the winning side of “the struggle.”

“They say when you eat at Outback Steakhouse or one of those chain places you’re paying for the owner's private jets and fancy houses. What we make helps everyone here. Nobody makes a lot of money. Here, you’re paying for our people to buy clothes for their kids,” Pierce said.

“I just feel like I don’t care if it’s a struggle. I’m gonna keep it going and that’s how Dino feels, too. No matter what, we’re going to try to keep The Ranch open for as long as can. Either things are going to get better or … whatever.”
I suggest you read the whole thing. This is a course on how to run a business in a difficult community to own a business. You may not agree with everything Griffith says about parking meters or minimum wage

Here's hoping The Ranch survives for any position renaissance that I expect Roseland to one day have. Especially when the CTA Red Line is finally extended further south. Plus I hope that the Pullman National Monument will have an effect on the surrounding communities as well.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

No kid hungry

[VIDEO] NOTE: The video above is a preview for the documentary Hunger Hits Home. You can watch the documentary directly from the Food Network website via the VIDEO link in the brackets.

I saw a few minutes of this documentary on the Food Network this morning. This is an ongoing concern here in these United States where we're concerned about our young people struggling with hunger.

While this blog hasn't consistently tackled this issue we have posted about it on occassion. What was shared here at one point was an appearance on C-Span's Washington Journal was actor Jeff Bridges and Bill Shore talking about hunger in America.

In my mind yeah hunger is an issue but so is health. We want to teach our young people to eat healthy and that's as important as ensuring that they have something to eat.

BTW, over the years I have been tempted to share programs from Whole Foods Market to help schools start gardens. I know that they're not the only player as far a grocery stores in this activism. Perhaps to help not only the issue of hunger but of nutrition there are ways to attack this issue as well.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Tribune: Starting this fall, free breakfasts, lunches available for all CPS students

I can't believe according to this article, school lunches in elementary school could go for $2.45 on average. When I went to Bennett-Shedd it was .75 and went up to .85 cents. Perhaps the quality of food today is much better.

Regardless CPS has found some money to provide free meals to all students. That's certainly excellent news:
The high number of students living at the poverty level in the district qualified CPS to meet the required threshold for full reimbursement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to CPS officials.

In the past school year, lunch at a typical elementary school  for students who didn’t qualify for assistance cost an average of about $2.45. High schools charges slightly more.

The district expects to serve 72 million meals to students in the coming year, two million more than during the last school year.

“If a student eats that day, the district gets reimbursed,” said Leslie Fowler, executive director of CPS’ nutritional support services. “But if they don’t eat, then CPS doesn’t get reimbursed and there’s no cost associated with that meal. We can’t predict what they do or don’t do, but we hope we can encourage them to participate.”

In the past, the school district’s free and reduced lunch program for financially eligible students was fraught with fraud. Several CPS school officials, including principals and assistant principals, were accused by the district’s Inspector General of providing false income information on applications for the free lunch program.
Sooooo, I don't have children yet, however, as a parent I would have fought tooth & nail not to pay over $2/day to feed my child. They'd get sent to school with a lunch from home at the very least.

Still this development under which this program has been expanded one thing is for certain CPS is dominated by low-income students.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

2 Investigators: Chicago Schools Flunk Food Inspections

If I recall correctly Bennett nor Shedd has a kitchen, but it would be nice to know which schools were inspected and flunked. Whatever the school in question that flunked inspections our students deserve better!
The Chicago Public Schools are constantly being scrutinized for improving test scores and academic standards.

But who’s watching to make sure the school’s kitchens and lunchrooms are being kept up to safety standards?

CBS 2’s Pam Zekman reports.

Since 2011, 244 of Chicago’s 681 schools failed at least one inspection, according to a review of city health department inspections by the 2 Investigators. That’s 35 percent with at least one failed inspection.

The Anton Dvorak Elementary School had the worst record. Since 2011, Dvorak has failed city health inspections six times for reasons such as no hot water in bathroom sinks, food kept at unsafe temperatures and more than 200 rodent droppings found in food service areas.
I'm glad that CPS has someone working on the problem. The next step is to talk about nutrition, of course!
[Leslie Fowler, executive director of Nutritional Support Services for CPS] says she will improve school lunches system-wide by making sure proper procedures are followed, implementing changes that will prevent future lapses and increasing oversight.

Her message to staff: “Don’t let me find out that a student is harmed at your hands. This is unacceptable. Not on my watch.”

All of the schools in this report eventually passed inspections, including most recently Hirsh, where the kitchen is now open and the staff replaced.
You know, I don't like to post reports like these. Not to associate stories like these to my old elementary school. This is just my way of keeping an eye using my various news sources to keep an eye on the school system as a whole. I would prefer to post more positive stories although there are certainly some negative stories to go around!

Hat-tip District 299 blog!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Through exotic produce, Chicago schoolkids learn to eat healthy - Chicago Sun-Times

Through exotic produce, Chicago schoolkids learn to eat healthy - Chicago Sun-Times

I still believe our young people should be exposed to those foods that are healthier for them. Of course that doesn't mean that we keep our young people from bringing a lunch from home.
Rutabaga. Star fruit. Jicama. Uglifruit. A lot of adults would have a hard time even identifying any of these in a fruit-and-vegetable lineup.

But not Louis Martinez, even though the first time he held a star fruit, he didn’t know what to make of it.

“It made me laugh,” said Louis, a 10-year-old third-grader at John Hay Elementary Community Academy, a Chicago public school in Austin, a neighborhood not known for having exotic supermarket produce sections. “It’s shaped like a star.”

Laughing’s OK with Wayne Williams, the principal at John Hay. It’s one of 14 Chicago schools where a federal grant is bringing produce to the kids. But at John Hay, the principal and third-grade teacher Jorie Schneider amped things up a bit. They’re mixing the mysterious with the mundane.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Chicago elementary principal Reason's "Nanny of the Month"


[VIDEO] The Principal at Chicago's Little Village Academy is Reason's Nanny of the Month. The critique is over her attempt to protect students from unhealthy food choices. Mainly banning lunches brought to school from home and forcing students to eat food provided by the cafeteria. Of course that does no good if students refuse to eat the food provided by the school's lunchroom anyway. :/

Monday, April 11, 2011

Public School Bans Homemade Lunches


[VIDEO] This video is out of Chicago's Little Village Academy where the principal wants to protect her students from unhealthy food choices. Doing so means preventing children from bringing to school their own lunch and forcing them to eat whatever is in the school's cafeteria. Even though as reported in this video from FOX News, the students may well not like the food and choose to throw it in the trash.

At least it's not CPS policy to do so and that the Principal made the call on this. I would be highly upset about this especially if I know to give my child a healthy sandwich, a juice, or even a piece of fruit. Who is this person to say that I as a parent (not a parent yet, personally) don't know how to make healthy food choices?

UPDATED 6:00 PM District 299 has other related links to this story.