Foundation Partners with Local Lunchbox to Provide Healthy Food Options to More Than 1,000 Young People across Chicago
Today, the Obama Foundation announced the expansion of its successful healthy meals program, Local Lunchbox, that is providing culturally-relevant food from local, diverse chefs to young people. What began as a pilot program last summer that aimed to serve young people on the South Side will now expand to include more youth across the city’s South and West Sides.
Working with a host of local community partners including the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, Social Works, Imagine Englewood If, and After School Matters, the Local Lunchbox program will feature meals from Chef Lashon Burrell, Executive Chef at Cajun Café, and ChiFresh Kitchen, a Black and woman-owned business that serves as a co-op that employs people largely from the South and West Sides. Every chef involved is focused on food that celebrates the rich diversity of the communities they serve.
“Our Local Lunchbox initiative embodies the spirit of healthy eating and nutrition that Former First Lady Michelle Obama brought to the White House,” said Obama Foundation CEO, Valerie Jarrett. “After seeing the enormous success of our pilot program last summer, we knew we wanted to continue to bring healthy food to more young people in historically under-resourced communities in Chicago.”
Founded in 2020 by the Shah Family Foundation, Local Lunchbox connects local restaurants and businesses with children and teens in traditionally underserved communities to ensure that all youth have access to healthy meals. With the Obama Foundation’s assistance, the program launched in Chicago for the first time last summer.
The partnership comes as part of the Obama Foundation’s mission to improve health and wellness on the South Side. In May, the Obama Foundation held its first road show to share information about the Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit & Vegetable Garden at the upcoming Obama Presidential Center that will be open to the community as a space for people of all generations to gather and learn about growing healthy produce right in their backyards.
With the expansion, Local Lunchbox and the Obama Foundation will provide breakfast and lunch to anyone that is 18 and under at the following locations:
South Side YMCA
6330 S. Stony Island, Chicago, IL 60637
Rauner Family YMCA
2700 S. Western Avenue, Chicago, IL 60608
Kelly Hall YMCA
824 N. Hamlin Avenue, Chicago, IL 60651
The free meal service as part of Local Lunchbox ends Friday, August 11 at the Kelly Hall YMCA and Friday, August 18 for the South Side and Rauner Family Y locations. For more information about the Obama Foundation’s Local Lunchbox Program and distribution locations, including hours and start dates, visit https://www.locallunchbox.org/chi-new.
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