At Gourmet Gorilla, we are proud members of our community. We love to partner with groups that share our values. Whether it’s providing affordable healthy meal delivery options or offering employment to refugees, we’re grateful for the community organizations that help us make positive change happen.
While school partnerships are our bread and butter, it’s important to us to reach children outside of our client list. We have formed many food bank partnerships in the Chicago area to serve more children nutritious meals. Our year-round work with food banks allows us to deliver snacks and suppers to children at their summer and after-school sites.
Along with our food bank partnerships, we also help those in need by providing meals that are reimbursable within the NSLP, CACFP, SSFP and SSO meal programs for free and reduced meals at after-school and summer programs.
Gourmet Gorilla plays an active role in addressing food insecurity in our local community. During remote learning in the fall and winter of 2020, we recognized the potential disruption to students’ meal times and nutrition.
To fill in the gap once met by school meals, we offered free, home-delivered pantry boxes to children under the age of 18 as part of the USDA Summer Food Service Program. These boxes contained healthy, locally-sourced ingredients for seven days’ worth of breakfasts and lunches. Dietitians curated nutritious, delicious recipes to accompany the ingredients, which included whole fruits and vegetables, proteins, grains and milk, as well as shelf-stable pantry staples.
Our pantry box program was such a success in 2020 that we decided to continue offering it even after remote learning had ended. We now offer SNAP certified pantry boxes, which you can order online at Gorilla to Go [LINK] and have delivered to your doorstep. It’s a great option for an affordable healthy meal delivery.
Through the World Relief Employment for Refugees, we hire recent refugees to provide them with their first job in the U.S. This program not only helps give refugees a solid financial start, but it also provides them with a community of other refugees from their home country.
Similar to our work with World Relief Employment for Refugees, we partner with Heartland Alliance to provide employment opportunities for their clients. We have made a commitment to work with both of these organizations to provide a career path and financial independence for all refugees and immigrants.
As a zero-waste company, Gourmet Gorilla donates any unused food to homeless shelters and local food banks, and composts any leftovers that cannot be eaten. It’s small measures like this that go a long way for our planet!
We believe in giving back to the community that supports our company’s livelihood. If you know of a community organization that’s looking to partner with food service providers for schools like Gourmet Gorilla, contact us.