Patch Holiday Food Drive In Will County: Give To Feeding America

WILL COUNTY, IL — Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, predicted this would happen as millions of Americans lost their jobs, their paychecks and even their businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic: Hunger is an urgent problem for nearly 75,000 people in Will County.

You can help. Patch and Feeding America teamed last summer to address the growing hunger crisis in America, connecting readers with the organization’s 200 member food banks that serve 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, and providing an easy way to donate money to help their neighbors.

Now through Dec. 31, we’re encouraging readers to make a tax-deductible contribution to Feeding America in the Patch Holiday Food Drive. Every $1 given to the organization buys 10 meals.

Local resources include:

Northern Illinois Food Bank
273 Dearborn Court, Geneva — 630-443-6910

Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry
834 N. Highland Ave., Aurora — 630-897-5431

Fox Valley Hispanic SDA Pantry
505 E. New York St., Aurora — 630-898-0410

Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry
1110 Jericho Road, Aurora — 630-897-2127

Food for Greater Elgin
1553 Commerce Dr., Elgin — 847-931-9330

Between Friends Food Pantry
52 Wheeler Road, Sugar Grove — 630-991-3138

Holy Angels Pantry
204 S. Russell Ave., Aurora — 630-897-2478

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Soup Kettle
330 S. Griswold, Elgin — 847-888-2882

Community Crisis Center
37 S. Geneva St., Elgin — 847-697-2380

All Peoples Interfaith Food Pantry
256 E. Chicago St., Elgin — 847-741-2329

Salvation Army - Aurora
437 E. Galena Boulevard, Aurora — 630-897-7265

Salvation Army - St. Charles
1710 S. 7th Ave., St. Charles — 630-377-2769

St. Peter Food Pantry
1891 Kaneville Road, Geneva — 630-232-0124

Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry
100 Flinn St., Batavia — 630-879-3784

Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry
2300 South St., Geneva — 630-232-7068

South Elgin Food Pantry
400 W. Spring St., South Elgin — 847-931-0563

Two Rivers Head Start Aurora
1661 Landmark Road, Aurora — 630-264-1444

Feeding America predicted 50 million people, including 17 million children, could face hunger by year’s end because of the pandemic. Feeding America projects the food insecurity rate in Will County will rise to 10.8 percent in 2020, up from 6.1 percent in 2018.

The Northern Illinois Food Bank is Feeding America's partner in the Will County area. The food bank can provide $8 worth of groceries for every $1 it receives in donations thanks to its partnerships with food manufacturers and retailers.

The Northern Illinois Food Bank hosts about two dozen distribution events every week, while supplying pop-up markets and food pantries across 13 counties.

In October, the organization distributed 9.7 million meals, or about 11.6 million pounds of food, to its network of more than 900 partners.

Feeding America says that 80 percent of its food banks — or 4 in 5 — are serving more people than they were at the same time last year. With the pandemic worsening during the holiday season, many people who never before worried about how they’d pay for a holiday meal are turning to food banks for the first time.

From the beginning of the pandemic in March, Feeding America distributed 4.2 billion meals — enough to provide every U.S. resident with breakfast, lunch and dinner for just over four days.
In the first four months of the pandemic, 4 in 10 people were first-time visitors to food banks, according to Feeding America.

How To Support The Patch Holiday Food Drive

Patch has teamed with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 50 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.