By The Chicago Crusader
Urban Growers Collective (UGC), a leading non-profit organization in urban agriculture and food policy in Chicago, will host its annual gala to support educational programs, partnerships and the organization’s overall mission to positively impact Chicago’s resource deprived neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West Side communities. The gala will be held Thursday, September 19, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Theater on the Lake (2401 N. Lake Shore Drive) where guests will be immersed in a Chicago-driven atmosphere including locally sourced meals to cocktails, as they raise funds to support the organization’s year-round activities.
Urban Growers Collective works to make nutritional food more accessible and affordable; create economic opportunities; and break systemic patterns by using urban agriculture to support health, economic development, healing and creativity. In 2018, more than 300 teens and 30 adults received job training through UGC’s programs, while 17,000 pounds of fresh produce were provided to more than 10,000 Chicago residents with limited food access.
Several local Chicago restaurants and breweries in support of UGC that will have featured items on the menu include Bang Bang Pies, Revolution Brewing Co., Daisies, Hart Davis Hart Wine Co., and Fig Catering, along with tastings of tea, honey, heirloom tomatoes and culinary salts by UGC’s very own Youth Corps.
Festivities for the evening include a chef demonstration, key note speaker and tasting stations.
Evening Schedule
6-7 p.m. Cocktail hour with appetizer stations
7-8 p.m. Dinner, keynote speaker and paddle raise auction
8-9 p.m. Entertainment and dancing
Individual tickets to the gala are $200 per person and tables of ten are $2,000. All proceeds from the evening directly support the efforts of Urban Growers Collective. For additional information or to purchase tickets, call 773.376.8882.
This article originally appeared in The Chicago Crusader.
