Morton College’s Panther Pantry Encourages Holiday Food Donations

Morton College’s mission is to enhance the quality of life in its diverse community through exemplary teaching and learning opportunities, community service, and life-long learning. MC’s Panther Pantry, along a similar vein, aims to provide food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in the community.

“Our goal is to maximize the college’s resources to support student learning by providing nutrition to all in need,” said Gabriela Mata, Director of Student Activities for Morton College. “We also build partnerships throughout the community in order to best serve students dealing with food scarcity.”

The Panther Pantry has been in operation since April of 2019. “The pantry, which is open to the Morton College community of students, staff, and faculty, has been briefly relocated to the MC main entrance so participants can directly access foods and resources,” added Mata. “It’s open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. until Wednesday, December 16th, when it closes for winter break. The pantry will reopen on Tuesday, January 5th at 11:00 a.m.”

People in the community are encouraged to donate canned goods, dry foods, and/or toiletries directly to the pantry Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monetary donations can be made at bit.ly/MC_Pantry or pantry@morton.edu. In addition, people can volunteer at the Greater Chicago Food Depository on behalf of the MCPP, which will receive credit that can be applied to future food orders.

“The MCPP hosted its first Community Holiday Meal Drive-Up in partnership with GCFD on Saturday, November 21st,” said Mata. “Morton College provided over 150 meal boxes that included canned goods, protein items, stuffing mix, and MC resources. We plan to host a similar event later in December. We’re dedicated to recognizing food scarcity and how it relates to education, which allows us to successfully feed students’ educational needs.”

Morton College

3801 S. Central Avenue

Cicero, IL 60804

708-656-8000

www.morton.edu