What started with an idea of giving back to those on the streets of Chicago with 30 sandwiches and a small pot of coffee, about 18 years ago, has grown into more than 1,100 sandwiches, snacks, coffee, and juice each week. The Chicago Homeless Sandwich Run now feeds over 800 people each week, of which 35-40% are Veterans.

Every Sunday of the year except one (Veteran’s Week in D.C. at the Vietnam Wall), volunteers make sack lunches, hot dogs, chili and soup to be passed out on the streets of Chicago. We are able to do this with the help of family and friends, and volunteers from womens’ clubs and schools—and, of course, the many veterans who give us a supporting hand. The sandwiches and other food items are assembled in a rented warehouse in Lombard, IL, and trucked downtown in a panel truck donated by VietNow. The route of the sandwich run goes from the center of downtown Chicago, along the west side of the Loop, down lower Wacker Dr., and then up Maxwell Street. Sacks also are trucked to food distribution centers for the homeless, such as the Fourth Presbyterian Church and the Pacific Garden Mission. In addition to food items, we distribute donated clothes, toothbrushes, soap, and other personal items to the homeless.

We also work with mental health agencies and Featherfist, a case management.organization, as well as the Vet Centers, to provide counseling and support services to the veterans we encounter who might request it.

In 1989, a man named Jim Proffitt, a US Marine Corp veteran, had an overwhelming desire to help his community and fellow veterans who have struggled since serving our country. Although he had his own responsibilities for taking care of his wife and 4 children, he also had a passion to help the homeless. He started one Sunday in his kitchen, making 30 sandwiches and a small pot of coffee, packing it up in his car and driving to Maxwell and Halstead Streets in Chicago to distribute the sandwiches to the homeless. He was not immediately welcomed in this rough neighborhood. Even though his life was threatened and his motives questioned by the police, he never stopped.

Today, 18 years later, Jim, his family, friends, volunteers and veterans make over 1,100 sack lunches, which include: hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, soup, coffee, juices and snacks. Once the sacks are made, volunteers load up an old truck donated by the VietNow organization (www.VietNow.com) and go into downtown Chicago, west of the loop, lower Wacker Drive and Maxwell Street.. They greet and distribute the sacks individually to over 800 homeless persons, of which 35-45% are homeless Veterans. Sacks also are delivered to food distribution centers for the homeless, such as the Fourth Presbyterian Church and the Pacific Garden Mission.