Food Taxi, a New Trier sponsored food donation service, has started another year of giving back to the community with an increase of student volunteers.
Unlike most clubs at New Trier, Food Taxi meets every Friday (in room 25) during the school year, and periodically during the summer.
In 2012, the club applied and received a grant of almost $2,000 from the school to provide the collection bins seen on every floor at the Winnetka Campus.

Also included in the grant was the creation of the Food Taxi logo on a large car topper, similar to that of a cab, and two magnets to go on the side of the car while delivering donations.
Wendy Parks, special education teacher at New Trier, the first and only faculty sponsor for five years said, “last year [2013] was our first year collecting bagels, so maybe that’s why no one knows about it, especially if they’re coming over from the Northfield campus because we don’t have it over there.”

Although Food Taxi is popular among freshmen with nearly 100 perspective names and emails collected at the club fair this fall, the club doesn’t see a future at the Northfield campus. According to Parks, the cost of the collection bins around the campus would be about the same, but the “take” of the bagels would be much smaller than on the Winnetka campus.

In addition, Food Taxi collects bread and other baked goods from Three Tarts in Northfield and Heavenly Hearth in Wilmette. After receiving the donations, kids and Parks drive to shelters and soup kitchens in the area to deliver the food.
“The kids like to say we are like the ‘middle man’ or ‘middle person’ in abating hunger by redistributing to shelters in the area,” said Parks. Food Taxi donates to shelters and soup kitchens such as the YWCA, Second Baptist Soup Kitchen, and A Just Harvest.

During the Thanksgiving break, volunteers participate in a canned food drive, creating Thanksgiving baskets to give to families who are struggling in our community. In the spring, the club does a day of service at the Winnetka Community House as part of the Kids Against Hunger event, boxing up food and sending it to high poverty areas.

Looking to the future for the club, Parks said she would love to see the club grow even more. “We started off really struggling with getting our mission across to people, but we have grown in every way. The student leadership is amazing and it continues to impress me daily.”