Friendsgiving
Launched in 2018 through our ChefsGiveBack initiative, Friendsgiving Feast is ChiGivesBack’s annual Thanksgiving program that brings warmth, nourishment, and connection to families across Chicago. Each November, local chefs, volunteers, and partners unite to serve hearty meals, distribute coats and hygiene kits, and create a space of dignity and belonging during a season that can be especially difficult for families experiencing hardship.
There’s More Than One Way to Give Back
Every November, ChiGivesBack transforms a simple meal into a movement. Friendsgiving isn’t just an event, it’s a promise to fight food insecurity, wrap families in warmth, and remind our city that compassion still has a home in Chicago. Through our partnerships with local chefs, generous sponsors like Jewel-Osco, and community leaders who show up year after year, we create an experience that nourishes both body and spirit. Whether you’re funding the work, standing beside us on-site, or helping expand our reach, you’re part of a story that feeds more than hunger, it feeds hope.
Turn Compassion Into Action
Every contribution helps bring comfort, dignity, and joy to Chicago families facing food insecurity. Your gift fuels our Friendsgiving initiative, where local chefs prepare hot, restaurant-quality meals for families who need them most. It also helps fund our coat drive and hygiene kits, ensuring every guest receives warmth and care beyond the table. Every contribution brings us closer to our $75,000 goal, helping local chefs serve hundreds of families facing food insecurity. You help transform community centers into dining rooms filled with laughter, gratitude, and care. You help us remind families they are not forgotten, especially during the holidays.
Donate today because generosity is the heart of every meal we serve.
Become a Sponsor that Fuels Change
There’s something powerful about seeing a city unite around a shared table. Through Friendsgiving, your company or organization becomes part of that story. Sponsors like Jewel cover every single ingredient for each chef to create and drinks for attendees. Friend Family Health brings free on-site health screenings. Habilitative Systems, Inc provides hygiene kits for individuals to take home. Local chefs donate their time and craft. And with each partner that joins, our reach grows—more meals served, more coats given, more families connected to care. Sponsorship doesn’t just make the event possible; it amplifies a movement built on compassion, equity, and access. It’s a chance for your brand to be seen not only for what you sell, but for what you stand for. When your business or organization sponsors Friendsgiving, you help fuel Chicagoans in need.
Partner with us and make your mark on one of the city’s most meaningful holiday traditions.
We Need You!
Every Friendsgiving begins long before the doors open. It begins when volunteers roll up their sleeves, tie on aprons, and prepare to serve with heart. This is service that goes beyond logistics, it’s love in motion. It’s helping a mother pick out a winter coat for her child, or handing someone a meal that feels like home. Every handshake, every smile, every “thank you” shared between strangers builds something bigger than a single day.
Bring a friend, family member, or co-worker to give back this holiday season!
Fill Plates. Feed Hearts. Fuel Chicago.
Our goal is to fight food insecurity while reminding families they are not alone during the holiday season. You can play a vital role by volunteering to help serve meals, donating to sponsor food and supplies, or partnering with us to expand the reach of Friendsgiving across Chicago.
What Your Generosity Has Served
For many of our guests, Friendsgiving may be their only holiday meal or opportunity to share in a sense of community. That is why this initiative is about more than food, it’s about hope, care, and togetherness. Take a look at our numbers since launching in 2018.
meals served
2,500
turkey distribution
+250
people served
+1700
coats donated
113
corporate donations
$50,000
What Giving Means Back to Our Partners
Our partners are more than sponsors, they’re changemakers who believe in building a better Chicago. From local businesses to national brands, each one plays a vital role in helping us expand our reach and deepen our impact. Hear directly from the people and organizations who stand beside ChiGivesBack to make generosity a movement.
Giving back is important to me…I feel like it’s only right to bless others. I love what ChiGivesBack stands for with the kids, community, and Seniors. I think it’s amazing and I’m glad to be part of the movement
Bridgette Flagg
CEO + Head Chef, SOULE
We at Jewel Osco love to give back to the community…especially around the holiday season because it brings families together.
Ricky Sookhoo
Store Director, Jewel Osco
Friendsgiving has become one of Chicago’s most talked-about community events featured on NBC, ABC, FOX, and CBS for its impact and heart. When you partner with ChiGivesBack, your brand joins a movement recognized citywide for turning compassion into action and feeding hope across Chicago.