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Sept. 6, 2001
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Joel Lerner / Pioneer Press
DAILY BREAD
Faye Gartenberg and her daughters help deliver leftover bagels to social service agencies.
Leftover bread goes to a good cause

BY JOANNA PLUTA
STAFF WRITER

Faye and Michael Gartenberg were only looking for a quick dinner, late one evening last summer.

But at the end of their meal at Panera Bread in Vernon Hills, Faye Gartenberg found a hobby, too.

“My husband and I were the last people in the restaurant and so we saw them throwing everything out at the end of the day,” Gartenberg said. “We asked what they did with it, and when they told us that they throw it all away we just felt so horrible.”

Daily bread

The incident prompted Gartenberg to ponder what she could do to help her community. After a series of phone calls, she organized a project to connect the leftover bread with social service agencies serving the needy.

“We feel very blessed,” Gartenberg said on behalf of her husband and two daughters. “It’s important to do good deeds daily.”

Gartenberg solicited local bakeries, like Panera, to donate their unused baked goods at the end of a day. Gartenberg spends part of every day driving around to the bakeries, loading bags full of bagels, breads, croissants and other goodies into the back of her mini-van.

She divvies up the spoils and drops them at local recipients, including the Riverside Foundation, St. Patrick’s soup kitchen, the Lake County Women’s Rehabilitation Center, the local Assention of the Lord Greek Orthodox church and a neighboring family of refuges from Kosovo.

“It’s one of those volunteer jobs that’s really special,” said Pete Mule, executive director at the Riverside Foundation. “People often offer to do things like this, but we can’t accept non-commercial products.

“Faye fights traffic to get from wherever she picks the food up to us, and they’re all wrapped and usable.”

The foundation uses Gartenberg’s deliveries to supplement their regular breakfast offerings.

Every once in a while, the Gartenbergs have enough left over to drop pastries off at the Lincolnshire police, fire and Public Works departments.

“The merchants have been wonderful to work with,” Gartenberg said. “They are grateful that someone can use their surplus, and the charities are thankful to receive the baked goods. It’s a win-win situation.”

Over the last year, the Gartenbergs have picked up food from Einstein Brothers Bagels and Laura’s Patisserie in Lincolnshire, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods in Deerfield, and the Dominick’s grocery stores in both Buffalo Grove and Bannockburn. The family also continues to pick up bagels from Panera Bread in Vernon Hills, usually on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Gartenberg said the merchants she approached were eager to get involved.

“Faye just came in one day and asked,” said Laura Pearlman, owner and chef at Laura’s Patisserie in Lincolnshire. “I had always been looking for something like this to do with the leftovers. You have to throw so much of it away at the end of the day, and I just hate doing that. This program is perfect for us because (Gartenberg) picks everything up.”

Gartenberg and her daughters pick up leftover breakfast foods from Laura’s weekly, usually on Saturday mornings. Pearlman said she usually sends the Gartenbergs home with two giant plastic bags full of stuffed croissants and brioche, which accounts for 90 percent of what she would otherwise throw away.

Pearlman only gives away food that is still safe to eat and doesn’t require reheating.

Similarly, general manager Tom Michaelis of Einstein Brothers Bagels gives Gartenberg 100 bagels a few days each week.

“She’s actually doing a bunch of things for us,” Michaelis said. “We’re not wasting food, we’re doing a good turn for the community, and - as funny as it sounds - she’s creating an awareness for bagels.”

Many benefits

But Gartenberg said her family, too, benefits from her daily travels. Daughters Cary, 10, and Jamie, 13, often pick up or drop off baked goods with their mom.

“This has been a nice family activity,” Gartenberg said. “It’s a great way to spend time together, while helping others.”

The younger Gartenberg women say it’s well worth the few hours a week they give up. Jamie said it’s rewarding to see so many bagels not go to waste. She said the time spent driving around the community doesn’t feel like work to her.

“My friends think it’s cool that I do this,” Cory said. “I tell them that it feels good to do something that you know is helping other people.”

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