As a lifelong Evanstonian, Jennifer Eason, owner of Jennifer’s Edibles Inc., feels a sense of responsibility to help her community during times of struggle.  

Jennifer grew up in a large family with multiple siblings. Due to an illness with her mother, she was taught to cook for her family at a young age, sparking a passion for providing those around her with delicious meals. 

Later on, Jennifer attended Kendall College and was a member of its first downtown Chicago graduating class. After graduating, she started providing personal chef services throughout Evanston and enjoyed helping to bring the concept of sit-down dinners back to many families. 

In 2015, she began offering business-to-business catering. This service was so successful that in 2017 she expanded into the building that previously held Uncle Randy’s and opened what is now known as Jennifer’s Edibles Inc. Through her business, she offers dine-in and catering. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020 and businesses shut down, Jennifer began receiving calls from family and friends who were concerned about their elderly parents being able to eat. Jennifer quickly decided that she could do something to help by using whatever inventory she had on hand to help feed people until it was gone. She started out by delivering meals to between five and 20 seniors a day for free. 

After learning of Jennifer’s efforts through Facebook, Evanston community members began calling, sending in donations, and sponsoring seniors. The more donations that came in, the more seniors Jennifer was able to provide meals to. 

“The response from the community was wonderful,” said Jennifer. “Between kitchen volunteers, delivery volunteers and donors, we had over 100 people who helped out. It’s times like this when the worst or best come out in people, and we certainly saw the best in our Evanston community.” 

Eventually, the Evanston Community Foundation heard what Jennifer was doing and decided to help fund the program through the end of the year. This allowed Jennifer to feed up to 200 seniors a day!

Jennifer is now working to establish a nonprofit called Jennifer’s Edibles, Feeding the Community so that she can continue to offer meal services to low-income seniors even after the pandemic has come to an end.