• Posted: September 14, 2021
• Ashburn Electric, better communities, Peter Wawire, St. James Food Pantry

 

St. James Food Pantry has provided support to families for over 50 years as part of St. James Catholic Church on Chicago’s Southside. As the need has grown since its founding in 1972, the food pantry, located at 2907 South Wabash Ave., has extended its compassionate support to neighbors, serving on average 1,500 households each month. With this increased demand, the pantry needed to upgrade its cold food storage capabilities, including the electrical system.

The pantry’s program director, Peter Wawire, turned to Powering Chicago for help. As part of Powering Chicago’s commitment to better construction, better careers and better communities, we partnered with member Ashburn Electric to help the St. James Food Pantry with electrical upgrades.  

Powering Chicago’s electricians surveyed the space to determine what upgrades were needed and tapped our member contractor, Ashburn Electric, who was willing to help by assessing what the property needed and if they could increase the load capacity. Ashburn’s skilled electricians are installing new outlets in the space as part of the project as well.

Partnerships like those with the St. James Food Pantry, which is in the community fulfilling an essential need providing food to those who need assistance, allow us to do our part to help strengthen the communities we serve.

The Food Pantry’s hardworking team couldn’t be more appreciative. “The work Powering Chicago and Ashburn Electric is doing allows us to add more cold storage for milk, eggs and other essentials. This will give our clients a better experience and improve it for the future,” said Wawire.

Ashburn’s electricians will help increase the supply capacity for more food storage, which we know is critical to helping St. James Food Depository continue to do their great work in the community.

“To see everyone coming together to help is amazing. We are so grateful for the generosity of both Powering Chicago and Ashburn Electric who made this moment possible,” said St. James’ Wawire.

Ashburn Electric and Powering Chicago’s work with the St. James Food Depository was featured on a recent Marquee Sports segment.