From national restaurants to large casinos, donating has become as easy as rounding up. And organizers of the annual Aurora Holiday Food Drive are hoping that can work for donations to the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, too. Dan Ardelean, owner of AC’s Pub on Aurora’s West Side and the Aurora Tap House downtown, is seeing just how much he can raise for the pantry by allowing patrons to round up their tabs to donate. “We are the pioneer for this,” he said. “We’ll figure out if it’s going to work.” The concept has been in practice for a while. National food chains such as McDonald’s have allowed rounding up a bill to donate to charity for a while, as have others. This is the first time it has been tried for the Aurora Holiday Food Drive. Ardelean, on a recent trip to Las Vegas, noticed that even slot machines allow gamblers to round up when they cash out to donate to the American Cancer Society. At his two Aurora restaurants, Ardelean has even turned it into a contest for employees, offering prizes for those who get the most donations. “We’re hoping it adds up to at least a couple thousand,” he said. As the 17th Holiday Food Drive continue this month, Ardelean and drive organizers are also hoping it can be something other businesses can do in future years. Both AC’s Pub and Aurora Tap House have also joined a number of restaurants sporting table tents to promote donations. Those restaurants are Breakfast Club of North Aurora; Calamity Janes in Sugar Grove; Craft Urban in Aurora; Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ in North Aurora; Eggsquisite Cafe in Montgomery; Harner’s Bakery, both Aurora and North Aurora locations; Los Girasoles in North Aurora; Nikarry’s Restaurant in Aurora; Open Range Southwest Grill in Sugar Grove; Orchard Valley Restaurant in Aurora; Pig Dog Pub in Montgomery; Reuland Food Service in Aurora; Taqueria Durango in North Aurora; and even Agatucci’s Restaurant in Peoria. The Holiday Food Drive is designed to help stock the shelves at the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, which serves more than 1,300 families in a given week. The drive began Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 27. It is operating as it has for years, through three grocery stores: Prisco’s Family Market, 1108 Prairie St., Aurora; Cermak Fresh Market, 1250 N. Lake St., Aurora; and La Chiquita, 1525 Douglas Road, Montgomery. Depending on how each store does it, people can buy packaged bags of groceries of $5, $10, $15 and $20 as they go through the checkout line during normal shopping. They also can buy a $20 virtual bag online, a feature added two years ago that officials said worked well. The pantry also takes monetary donations. The money is used to purchase food from the Geneva-based Northern Illinois Food Bank, and every $1 donated actually purchases $8 of food. Both the virtual bags and the monetary donations can be done at the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry website, https://www.aurorafoodpantry.org/. Monetary donations also still are taken the old-fashioned way, with checks mailed to the pantry at 1110 Jericho Road, Aurora, IL, 60506. Checks should be made out to Aurora Food Pantry. The food drive also depends on volunteers who help in a number of ways, including passing out flyers promoting the drive at the participating grocery stores. Ways to volunteer are also at the pantry’s website. Some organizations also conduct their own food drives during the Holiday Food Drive, and donate those to the pantry. Sponsors of the Aurora Holiday Food Drive are Dolan and Murphy, Inc. real estate; Konen Insurance; Gerald Subaru of North Aurora; AuraLight Dispensary; Douglas Carpet One; Aurora Bank & Trust; Bob’s Discount Furniture; Oak St. Health; AC’s Pub; Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward; The Beacon-News; Aurora Fastprint; Cermak Fresh Market; La Chiquita; and 95.9 The River. [email protected]