Nourishing Hope
Csilla Megyeri, LCSW, is a seasoned mental health professional with extensive experience in social services. Since June 2021, Csilla has served as the Director of Social Services at Nourishing Hope, overseeing critical programs including crisis intervention at Swedish Covenant Hospital. Previously, Csilla held various clinical roles at Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, including Clinical Director and Supervisor, where responsibilities included managing the Welcoming Center and developing new crisis programs. Additional experience includes roles as a counselor case manager, social work intern in dementia care and drug rehabilitation, and activities facilitator in retirement care. Csilla holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Religious Studies from Lawrence University. Active community engagement is evident through Csilla’s long-standing involvement with the Hungarian Scout Troop of Chicago.
Nourishing Hope
For more than 50 years, Nourishing Hope (formerly Lakeview Pantry) has served as an invaluable resource in Chicago, ensuring our low-income neighbors have enough to eat and have access to critical, and sometimes lifesaving, social services. Together, we have directly improved the lives of thousands of our community members. Last year, the Pantry served nearly 200,000 people throughout the city with 4 million meals. Our approach focuses on meeting the immediate hunger needs of our clients, then moving onto longer-term solutions that empower clients to become independent. Our mission is to eliminate hunger and poverty in our community by providing food to fill the basic need of hungry people; empowering our clients to gain independence through innovative social service programs; and raising awareness of hunger and poverty and working towards solutions to eliminate them. Our vision is to be a reliable and innovative hunger-relief resource in the communities we serve, and to be a model of dignified, effective, and collaborative service delivery. We will realize this vision by remaining proactive and adaptable to changing circumstances, while constantly striving to improve. Our ultimate goal is a hunger-free Chicago.