South Suburban Food Pantries Brace For Surge As SNAP Benefits Pause On Saturday

COOK COUNTY, IL — Unless the federal government throws a last-minute Hail Mary pass to end the shutdown before midnight Friday, 1.9 million Illinois residents – about 16 percent of the state’s population – will not be receiving their SNAP benefits on Nov. 1.

Local food pantries and food banks tell Patch that requests from people seeking food assistance for the first time are starting to surge. The most often asked question on neighborhood social media groups this week is from people seeking the nearest food pantry.

“A lot of SNAP participants are children and older adults, and people with disabilities. SNAP is a lifeline for families to make ends meet,” said Man-Yee-Lee, director of communications for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “Our most vulnerable neighbors will be left with few options to put food on the table.”

>>> Need food assistance? Enter your Zip Code on the GCFD map to find a food pantry near you.

Earlier this week, the Department of Agriculture, after the Trump administration said it would not tap the roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, posted a statement on its website, saying “bottom line, the well had run dry.” The unattributed USDA statement went on to blame Democratic senators.

Illinois has also joined a group of 26 states suing over the suspension of the program that helps 693,000 in the state and 40 million nationwide.

Man-Yee-Lee said the food depository is asking its 850 community partners to monitor traffic at their respective food pantries, soup kitchen and shelters across Cook County.

“The food depository will remain committed to make sure food is available to anyone who needs it,” Man-Yee-Lee said. “If necessary, we will increase distribution to areas based on community need.”

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Lines are long by the time Elsie’s Pantry opens for its weekly food distribution on Thursdays at Our Savior Divine Lutheran Church, 10040 S. 88th Ave., Palos Hills.

“People are lining up at 11 a.m., even though we don’t open until 2 p.m.,” said Beth Heinrich, director of Elsie’s Pantry. “The lines get so big.”

Heinrich told Patch that the number of new clients seeking food assistance in the past month has increased to 120 families and individuals.

“We get new clients signing up every week during the holidays. We can go up to 200 families,” Heinrich said. “The number didn’t go down last January as it normally has in the past. It’s kept steady, and lately it has been climbing. We’re expecting numbers to increase.”

A partner pantry of GFCD, Heinrich said Elsie’s Pantry was down about 1,000 pounds of food it received this month from the USDA..

“We normally get over 6,000 pounds [of meat, dairy and produce] from the USDA,” Heinrich said. “Now it’s down to 5,000 pounds.”

Heinrich says for the first time since Elsie’s Pantry was founded over 25 years ago, the pantry was forced to skip one of its Thursday food distribution dates because it didn’t have enough food.

Mary Connaghan, president of the food pantry board at Pilgrim Faith United Church of Christ, 9411 S.51st Ave., Oak Lawn, told Patch that the pantry’s shelves are still okay. The panty is now up to 200 individuals and families in October.

Last weekend, Pilgrim Faith partnered with Chicago Ridge Mall, where families were asked to bring a non-perishable food item for admittance to the mall’s Day of the Dead celebration. A similar event was held the same weekend at the Oak Lawn Community High School PTSA craft fair, where food donations were requested. The Pilgrim Faith food pantry is also planning its annual turkey drive starting Nov. 15.

“We got an enormous amount of food,” Connaghan said.” We’ve had a lot more people reaching out to us, asking if we need help. I’m hoping that the community will rally behind us.”

One of Chicago’s longest serving food pantries, the Maple Morgan Park Pantry serves 4,000 people per month requesting food assistance in Beverly, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood and beyond. Karen Ovesrtreet, the food pantry’s executive director, told Patch that approximately 900,000 people in Cook County rely on SNAP.

“We’re getting more people, we’re probably up 40 percent,” Overstreet said. “We’re higher now than we were during COVID. We’ve exceeded COVID numbers.”

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A partner pantry with GFCD, Overstreet told Patch that the pantry has never run out of food in its 43 years of operation. The pantry leases space at Morgan Park United Methodist Church, 11030 S. Longwood Drive, Chicago.

“We have been truly based because by being here a long time, the community has really rallied behind us,” Overstreet said. “We just released our Thanksgiving flier because of the high number of requests. We don’t want anyone going with Thanksgiving dinner.”

To brace themselves for the surge, local food pantries are planning to increase their food rescue efforts, collecting surplus healthy food from local grocery stores, hotels, farmers markets, caterers, state fairs and restaurants, and delivering it to social service agencies.

“We do food rescues every Saturday,” said Tim Noonan, a member of the 19th Ward Mutual Aid board in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood. “We bring it to our warehouse in Blue Island, where it gets distributed to different groups and pantries.”

Meanwhile, those in the emergency food system are counting on community food drives and donations to augment their supply of food for the hungry in their respective communities.

Man-Yee-Lee said the emergency food system cannot fulfill the community need for food alone because it is not sustainable. SNAP is needed to continue to be available for the children, seniors, disabled persons and families who rely on it.

“We are in unprecedented times,” she said. “We are extremely worried the longer the government shutdown continues.”

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