Feeding Rockford & Beyond
The Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) started in 1983, when Sister Rosemarie Burian had a vision of bringing people together to solve the problem of hunger. She found people who shared that commitment, and they worked together to start Bethlehem Center, which later became Northern Illinois Food Bank. From humble beginnings, that team, many other leaders, staff and volunteers since then, have innovated again and again toward the goal of ensuring everyone in Northern Illinois has the food they need to thrive. There is more work to be done to achieve that goal! We are all neighbors, and we can each work toward Sister Rosemarie’s vision of a hunger-free community!
At Northern Illinois Food Bank, we focus on delivering food and healthy eating services to the Northern Illinois community. As part of the national Feeding America network, we serve our neighbors in 13 counties by providing 250,000 meals per day.
Jenny Ackerman is the Development officer at the Northern Illinois Food Bank, a position she has held for since October 2020. As a member of the Corporate, Foundation and Organization giving team Jenny manages a diverse portfolio of donors support the mission of Northern Illinois Food Bank. Her expertise includes connecting with churches and organizations throughout our service area. Duties include grant writing, managing program updates and working with program staff to share the story of the Food Bank with donors.
Previously she worked for the Evangelical Church in America as the Gobal Mission Funding Operations Manager. She previously held positions with Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Jenny graduated from Elmhurst University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications.
She will talk about the history of NIFB and how it has expanded over the years.
Since Rockford Rotary has been involved with the local NIFB for a number of years, this will be a chance for our members to learn about the organization and encourage other members to get involved with this important project. This will also be an excellent opportunity to bring a guest or prospective member to join us in person at Memorial or via Zoom.
Either Mary Maxed who has volunteered to be the Coordinator for our INFB project or Pete Rundquist who has coordinated the project in previous years will introduce our presenter and act as Rotary Host.