SOUTH CHICAGO — This weekend’s Feed the Hungry event will serve filling meals to Southeast Siders as its organizers prepare for twice as many attendees as last year.
The free potluck is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Trayvon Martin Community Garden, 8452 S. Escanaba Ave. in South Chicago.
Soup joumou — a Haitian specialty with beef, squash and other vegetables recently picked from urban farms led by master gardener Gregory Bratton — is the event’s headlining dish, as it has been for years, Bratton said. A recipe for the stew will be shared with attendees.
Other foods to be served include foil-packet corn from three of Bratton’s gardens, chicken, hot links, ribs, french fries and fresh watermelon.
“We under-bidded ourselves last year,” Bratton said. “We were trying to feed 300 people, and we ran out of food — there was a good 500 people that came out. This year, it might sound crazy, but we’re going to fix enough food to feed 1,000.”
Organizers secured a permit to use the street for this year after “we were causing some traffic problems” with last year’s packed crowd, Bratton said.
Feed the Hungry started in 2004 at the Victory Garden, 8911 S. Exchange Ave., and has popped around to various South Side gardens in the years since. Past hosts include a garden at 82nd Street and Buffalo Avenue and the former I Grow Chicago urban farm in Englewood.
This year’s food purchases were sponsored by a host of neighbors and community organizations, including C&G Restaurant, Oak Street Health, Kevin and Joann Murphy, Ace Hardware and others.
The event follows a “wonderful” 2023 growing season Bratton oversaw at his various gardens while being treated for cancer and other health scares, he said.
“We did a good 10,000 pounds of greens alone; 300 pounds of tomatoes; maybe 150, 160 pounds of sweet potatoes,” Bratton said. “I can’t even imagine the poundage we did on carrots.”
For Saturday’s potluck, neighbors should be ready to “hang out, eat and volunteer” if they’d like, as farmers are still prepping the Travyon Martin and adjacent Laquan McDonald community gardens for the cold season, Bratton said.
Volunteers can also help cook meals, man the grills and assist with other potluck tasks by showing up Saturday and “asking for Mr. Greg,” he said.
Bratton, who recently celebrated his 71st birthday by sleeping all day, will not slow down as the growing season ends, he said.
He’s preparing to assist with a Halloween costume contest and dance in South Chicago, take kids to see the Ringling Brothers circus Nov. 3 and organize a seniors’ double Dutch jamboree in the spring.
To donate to support Bratton’s work, click here.
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