19th Ward Plans Food Drive Wednesday For Pat's Pantry

CHICAGO — Ald. Matt O’Shea, Sen. Bill Cunningham and Rep. Mary Gills will join the Mt. Greenwood Community and Business Association to support Pat’s Pantry with a community food drive.

Non-perishable food and personal care items can be dropped off from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, at Mt. Greenwood Community Church, 3509 W. 111th St., Chicago.

Pat Turney was a nice kid, who grew up to become a loveable man. He was the grandson of two proud Mt. Greenwood families — the Turneys and the Cavallones. He played baseball in the fields on 115th Street, where he was always captain of the team. If you needed 50 yards of dirt moved, he showed up in your back yard before you hung up the phone. Turney was a graduate of Chicago Ag, where he attended with his twin brother, Jimmy, and got along with all the high school groups.

Known as the unofficial “mayor of Mount Greenwood,” Turney was working toward his goal of a career in law enforcement with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, when he died tragically at age 23 in 2019. Pat’s Pantry is a food pantry operated in conjunction with Mt. Greenwood Community Church.

In addition to grocery gift cards, the most requested food pantry items include:

Applesauce
Boxed oatmeal
Canned beans
Canned fruit
Canned soup
Canned stew
Canned tomatoes
Canned tuna
Canned vegetables
Cooking oil
jelly/jam
Nuts
Pasta/pasta sauce
Bandages
Deodorant
Feminine products
Kleenex
Paper towels
Shampoo
Toilet paper
Toothbrush/toothpaste