Haunts Against Hunger in Park Forest started 8 years ago in 2008 as a community giving program at Talala Elementry School through the PTO. That year the PTO team of Vernice Warren, Edie Maurisak, Dana Stevens, Holly Lane and Kim Schaefer was able to donate over 300 canned goods to area pantries. We established the PTO as a Not-for-Profit organization and it gave us a better opportunity to focus on only on the school but the community.
Charles and Kim Schaefer continued the donations as they held a haunted yard at their home while continuing to collect non-perishable food items for the Monee and Rich Township food pantries.
Vernice looked for other locations for the haunted house and hence our partnership with Calvary United Protestant Church located at 425 S Orchard in Park Forest IL. Calvary was not only was a collection site for food items but added a haunted house for families to donate to the cause.
Each year our goal is to bring more items to our food pantries and to bring awareness to the need of food donations to those who are in need. We have donated over 2000 non-perishable items each year since our first year.
