Polo Women’s Club is hosting a food drive on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 8 a.m. until noon at Polo Fresh Food Market on Division Street in Polo.

Donations of canned goods and paper products, as well as cash, will be accepted by club members and delivered to the Polo Lifeline Food Pantry.

Food insecurity is defined as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all members of a household. Very low food security is a more severe form where the food intake of some household members is reduced, and normal eating patterns are disrupted due to a lack of money or other resources for food.

As of 2023, the USDA reported 13.5% (18 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2023. The 2023 prevalence of food insecurity was statistically significantly higher than the 12.8 percent (17.0 million) in 2022. Low Food Security showed 8.4% (11.2 million) in 2023, where in 2022 it was 7.7% (10.2 million).

In 2022, 12.5% of residents in Ogle County (or 6,400 individuals) were food insecure. Northern Illinois Food Bank - through a network of more than 900 food pantries, soup kitchens and feeding programs - provided 76 million meals across their 13-county service area.

Ogle County has nine food pantries, two soup kitchens, two senior sites, one backpack program site and 10 child program sites. A total of 671,000 meals were distributed just in Ogle County.

This is the third year PWC has conducted this event.

If you would like further information on Polo Women’s Club or how you can donate to the Food Drive, contact Sheila Dean at (815) 677-6877