Chi Run Mag Mile Runners

Run for CHI on September 9!

Registration is now open for the Run Mag Mile 5K and 10K. We’re recruiting our team now! Drop us an email to let us know you’ll be running with us at dfraser@chicagohelpinitiative.org.

Chi Annual Fundraiser St D Fb Event Cover Photo

CHI’s ‘Feeding Hope’ Annual Gala

Mark your calendar for 9/24/2023 and join us for a fun-filled evening to support our meals and programs in the coming year. Look for your formal invitation soon!

Chi Homepage Banner Revised

Calling All Volunteers!

You CAN make a positive difference in the lives of Chicagoans facing homelessness and hunger. Learn more about volunteer opportunities with CHI.

Website Ihave Aname

I Have a Name”

This powerful documentary film gives voice to Chicagoans experiencing homelessness while capturing the work of the Chicago Help Initiative and its partners. Email dfraser@chicagohelpinitiative.org for ways to view the documentary. Watch the trailer.

We provide nutritious meals and support for people experiencing hunger and homelessness in Chicago.

Feeding Hope

Please join us in our efforts to alleviate hunger and homelessness in Chicago!

CHI is truly a community organization – we have always been volunteer rich while being staff lean. We have been successful not just because we reflect our community, but because we are the community.

In 2023, we need more companies, employee groups, and restaurants to sponsor and serve our weekly meals. Learn more.

We also need volunteers! To help serve meals, make bag meals, and pick up meals. To become tutors in our adult learning program, and mentors in our jobs club and art group. To assist our guests with housing and healthcare enrollment, transit passes, and more.

If you’ve thought about volunteering – once a week, once a month, whatever works for you – now would be a great time to do it!

Contact us to let us know how you’d like to help.


What CHI accomplished in 2022

*We reopened our weekly Wednesday meals to in-person, sit-down service in the dining room at Catholic Charities, 721 N. Lasalle St.

*We restarted our book club, short stories workshop, computer club, and knitting group and launched a new theater workshop in partnership with Lookingglass Theatre.

*We launched our New Foundations program to enable other organizations in the city to offer the kind of social services assistance we provide at our weekly meals and help people experiencing homelessness to access the resources they need to move forward.

*Through our New Kitchens initiative, we’ve expanded the pool of restaurants and caterers we partner with, to include South Side and West Side start-ups that are also working in their neighborhoods to provide jobs.

*We established the CHI Community Garden in the Spring to provide garden plots to our guests who want to grow their own food, and encourage lasting relationships with the land and each other.

Thank you to our partners and sponsors!

AIRE
AT&T
Café Baci
Benny's Chop House
Eli's Cheesecake
Gene & Georgetti
Greek Kitchen
Hyatt Centric
Northwestern Medicine
SCB
Site Chicago
Texas de Brazil

Marc Schulman, President of Eli's Cheesecake and longtime restaurant partner and sponsor of The Chicago Help Initiative speaks about the positive impact CHI makes in people's lives.

From Our Blog

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Our Spring 2023 News

Dear Friends, It's about the relationships. Making the human connection is what we do best. From our meals to our...
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New Foundations Program Helps Connect People with Services They Need to Thrive

In early 2022, we asked several of our partners who run community meals if they would offer their guests...
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Chi Holiday Bazaar Holiday Table

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CHI’s Holiday Bazaar 2022 Brings the Spirit of Giving to Our Guests

CHI's 2022 Holiday Bazaar, held on December 7th in the dining room at Catholic Charities was a great success. We...
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Did you know?

Over 85% of the people we serve are unemployed.

Nobody should go hungry. With the Chicago Help Initiative, you don’t have to.”

Bruce