Local Starbucks Delivers Food to Homeless During Blizzard

Nearly two feet of snow shuttered the , leaving perishable pastries and sandwiches idling in the refrigerated cases Wednesday.

Luckily, employee Lee Walton weathered the blizzard and showed up to work early in the morning. It was clear to Walton that business would be slow that day, so she reached out to resident Deb Lawrence, a regular customer and Illinois workNet employee, on what to do with the crates of food. Illinois workNet is an organization provides training and resources for jobseekers.

"She (Walton) called me up and said I have all this parishable food and I can’t open," Lawrence told Patch. "It was really just something that started as a joke because I knew Starbucks wasn’t open."

Following Walton's phone call, Lawrence worked with her colleauge, Michele Curran, to reach out to Hilda's Place, an Evanston-based shelter that works with Illinois workNet. After confirming delivery with Hilda's, Lawrence and her daughter, Marcia, hopped in their mini-van and headed to Edens Plaza.

"Within an hour we had the food over, we had packed it in the car and stacked all the trays up: the sweet rolls, the bagels, you name it, and had it driven over to Evanston," Lawerence said.

When the trio arrived in Evanston, mounds of snow were still piled on the roads.

"We ended up just parking in the middle of the street and passing the trays of food across the snow drifts," Lawrence said.

"This was just a ncie way for businesses to work together," Lawrence added. "It was a great experience."