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Marcia Lamoureux … Someone You Should Know

Marcia Lamoureux … Someone You Should Know

I Recently visited with Marcia Lamoureux, Glen Ellyn’s resident Birdhouse Architect/Builder and generous benefactor of a number of Charitable organizations, including our Glen Ellyn Food Pantry. She is a true artist and to say that her enthusiasm is infectious, would be an understatement. We met at her home on Hillside Dr, in Glen Ellyn; a house that she and her husband rescued from demolition and lovingly restored to its original splendor.

Marcia had already restored 3 other historic homes, prior to tackling the house on Hillside; doing most of the work herself.  She replaced damaged flooring, installed inlaid flooring, replaced and restored millwork & cabinetry; the list goes on. Her father was a teacher who built homes part-time with her uncle, a full-time builder. Marcia soaked up their passion for building structures, with fine materials and fine workmanship.

The first birdhouse was inspired by a fancy gardening magazine that she read one day, while working on her own gardens. She put her artistic talents and building experience to work and built a beautiful birdhouse that she installed high above her flower beds. One thing led to another and her avocation was born. Marcia soon found herself designing and building birdhouses as donations to charitable organizations for silent auctions. She became disillusioned when she saw how little her birdhouses and every other auction item netted the charities. The people bidding on the auction items were paying as little as possible for the items; not an amount that recognized the time, love and effort that actually went into the creation of each item.

She decided to take a different tack and sell the birdhouses to the public, donating 100% of the purchase price to charity.  She believes that if people know that they are buying a quality product that is locally made by hand…..not mass produced …and that 100% of the purchase price would benefit a local charity, they would readily make the purchase and feel good that they were at once, supporting their community.

You see, Marcia has a vision that extends beyond building birdhouses.  She is on a mission to make a difference; to make people re-think some of our social issues. In her vision, charitable support within a community, buying locally fabricated merchandise, preserving our environment, creating jobs for the disabled that they enjoy, and the sustainability of each are all finely interwoven.  If a business has a commitment to these, she believes that it will trickle up.

To that end, Marcia has partnered with a school for autistic children. She is teaching them how to assemble her birdhouses; finding each student a task that they can readily complete, and that gives them joy and satisfaction. The idea is to teach them skills that will allow them to earn money doing something that they love. She scours the Good Will shops, looking for pieces that she can repurpose to add a distinctive character to each birdhouse. She is currently contemplating opening a shop from which she can sell her birdhouses, and other handmade items, and envisions staffing it with volunteers from the charities that benefit from the sales of the items. Marcia has big plans and is open to collaborating with others who share her desire for change.

Come by the Glen Ellyn Food Pantry on Saturday, July 20th or Sunday July 21st, from 10am -4pm, each day. Purchase one of her “works from the heart” and support the Food Pantry in their mission ……Oh, and meet Marcia!!

Glen Ellyn Food Pantry inside Grace Lutheran Church at
493 Forest Avenue in Glen Ellyn.
Call the Pantry at 630.469.8668 for more information.
See you there!!
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Donate At The Mac

The 2018 Lakeside Pavilion 5th annual Lakeside Summer Series for free outdoor entertainment is in full swing!

Join us by enjoying one of these free concerts and bringing some non-perishable items to donate:

  • Friday July 27 – Unraveling The Wilburys celebrates the Supergroup, and catalogues of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne
  • Friday August 3rd – Piano Men: A tribute to Elton John and Billy Joel thanks to Broadway veterans Craig Meyer and Donnie Kehr
  • August 10th – Rick Michel is one of Las Vegas’ premier singers and has been hailed by Variety as “…the closest thing to Frank Sinatra we have ever heard.”

The theater is located on the College of DuPage campus, just west of Park Boulevard in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Take Park Boulevard to Fawell Boulevard (22nd Street on Google Maps). Turn west and follow Fawell about 1/4 mile as it curves right and left again. The COD campus is on your left. Turn into the parking lot’s first entrance by the green and white College of DuPage sign. The MAC will be directly in front of you. Parking is free in any of the lots. See you there!

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Meatheads


Did you get your BURGER on?? Thank you to Meatheads of GE for supporting the GEFP on March 22nd, 2018 with 20% of their profits coming back to the Food Pantry to help us in turn feed our hungry neighbors in need. Meatheads is also continuing to collect NON perishable items in their store thru the end of the March. THANK YOU MEATHEADS!!

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GEFP Open House

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Glen Ellyn Food Pantry would like to thank our community, individual donors and Jewel-Osco Food Stores for helping make our Pantry expansion possible.

Stop by our Open House

Wednesday, September 21st

4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

for a behind the scenes tour of our newly renovated Pantry. We look forward to seeing you! Refreshments will be served. Questions? Call 630-469-6988.

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GEFP Reopens August 1, 2016

Reopening

The remodeling is complete and the shelves are restocked. The Pantry is set to reopen Monday, August 1, 2016! The Pantry Board and Staff are grateful for the financial donations from our supporters that made the remodeling possible and for the food donations from our community, churches, and retail partners that restocked the Pantry shelves. We are excited to reengage in a more efficient way with our mission to feed our hungry neighbors. The additional storage space will allow us to take better advantage of food recovery, donation, and purchasing opportunities to stretch donation dollars further. The new layout of our client shopping area will accommodate more clients per day and respond to the growing demand for food assistance. Volunteers, we’ve missed you this summer, and look forward to seeing all of you in August!

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Jewel Restocks the Pantry

Early this morning Jewel delivered a semi-truck full of food to stock our newly remodeled Pantry! Glen Ellyn Food Pantry Board and Staff are overwhelmed by Jewel’s generosity. We are grateful the volunteers who unloaded the truck and stocked the Pantry shelves. Thank you also to the Northern Illinois Food Bank for their support and our friends at Einstein’s for the delicious coffee and food for our volunteers. Everything is on track for re-opening in August.

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GEFP Expanding & Enhancing Efficiency

gefp construction

In 2015, GEFP distributed $2.6 million in food to over 29,000 people, and we have literally out grown our space at Grace Lutheran Church. To accommodate this enormous growth, we have planned and budgeted for a modest expansion and reorganization of our current space. The new configuration will provide more client appointments to meet the growing need.

Although we have some committed funds for these changes, additional unexpected challenges are facing us. Pantry updates are needed to increase space and comply with village ordinances, new computers are critical to accommodating necessary software updates, and increasing operating costs are driven by a 14% increase in client services thus far in 2016. We are working hard to meet these challenges, but we need your help.

Please consider making a donation to help us meet these needs. While we continue to partner with the Northern Illinois Food Bank and local retailers in our community to squeeze as much value out of every dollar given, the demand for food assistance continues to grow. Your tax deductible gift will make a positive impact on local families in need.
The Glen Ellyn Food Pantry expansion is scheduled to be completed by August 1, 2016, and we would love for you to see our changes in person during our normal operating hours. You can see your contributions at work, serving your community.
Thank you for your commitment to this valuable community resource. Your gift truly makes a difference in the lives of many

 

Donate Now!