‘People helping people’: West Suburban Community Pantry nourishes connections

As a volunteer for the West Suburban Community Pantry, Diane McKillip coordinates a home delivery service for seniors.

It’s not simply a matter of dropping off food. It’s much more personal — “powerful” is the word McKillip uses.

The program supports a vulnerable population: “Seniors who are alone and maybe can’t drive but need to keep their health up with healthy food and healthy vegetables,” she said.

The Woodridge-based pantry is one of five charitable organizations set to receive grants from the Daily Herald/Robert R. McCormick Foundation's Neighbors in Need fundraising campaign.

Through the delivery service, seniors receive boxes of nonperishable food and additional groceries every month. There are 40 in the program. Each volunteer is paired with at least one senior.

“There has never been a time when I have been in an apartment or with one of our seniors where I haven’t been welcomed into their home and asked to sit down and talk for a minute,” McKillip said. “And they just express their complete gratitude for receiving the food and for being connected into the community.”

Like many others, the pantry became a lifeline during the federal government shutdown and the disruption to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The first week of November, the pantry served 900 more people than in the same period the previous month — a 33% increase.

The pantry increased its hours and added more appointments to try to accommodate more people. It’s also encouraged organizers of food drives to focus on one item — say, peanut butter — to help reduce sorting needs and replenish its online inventory.

“I know if someone was only coming because they didn't get the benefits, they might be able to scale back, but we know it's already a challenging time for families,” pantry CEO Maeven Sipes said. “The holidays are already harder, so we think we'll still see an increase that we were seeing over the last couple months.”

Increased demand

Before the SNAP upheaval, the pantry was typically serving 1,000 families a week through its in-person and online markets.

“But we also knew with the changes that were coming to SNAP and the changes coming to health care, that we were already thinking we were going to be seeing an increase in the longer term,” Sipes said.

She came to the pantry from the Northern Illinois Food Bank. The Geneva-based organization warned this summer that the overhaul to the SNAP program — including new work requirements, cost-shifting to states and limits on benefit adjustments — will “significantly reduce access to food assistance and increase demand on charitable food systems already stretched thin.”

After the shutdown ended, the food bank reiterated in November that as “families work to recover and prepare for the holidays, demand for food assistance remains incredibly high.”

“We’re committed to doing everything we can,” Sipes said.

The organization is spread across units in an industrial area at the end of Hobson Valley Drive. There are “a lot of challenges to being back here,” Sipes said. It’s not efficient. And parking is tight.

“The pantry still needs to work towards getting a new building,” she said.

‘Stronger and healthier’

The Neighbors in Need grant program benefits organizations focused on issues of hunger, homelessness and health care. The McCormick Foundation will contribute 50 cents for every dollar Daily Herald readers donate to the campaign.

“Every dollar we receive, we can already provide more than one meal, and so this will make it go 50% farther,” Sipes said. “And they can really help make sure even more people have meals for the holiday season.”

The pantry expects to use the Neighbors in Need grant for food purchases and distribution costs.

“If you help someone at the pantry, you’re really just helping make our community stronger and healthier. It’s immediate, the impact of somebody getting food from the pantry and taking it home and feeding their children and their family,” McKillip said.

The pantry also connects people to resources other than food. The nonprofit provides tutoring for kids and facilitates summer camps. A support services coordinator is organizing a resource fair in January with expert advice on medical insurance and college financial aid.

McKillip is also the lead volunteer for Kids Make a Difference, a program that offers age-appropriate opportunities for young people to lend a hand at the pantry and learn the importance of giving back.

“You think of a food pantry, maybe your vision of what it’s all about is fairly narrow,” she said. “But the more you learn about West Suburban, and you see the people that are bringing so many different aspects of health and wellness to people’s lives — it’s pretty incredible.”

The Woodridge resident recently started a senior newsletter as part of the delivery service. She’s asked seniors to share a recipe or a food memory for the publication. Again, it’s about building relationships.

“They’re so grateful, and I don’t even think it’s the food necessarily,” she said. “That’s the connecting thread, but I think it’s just people helping people.”

West Suburban Community Pantry

Where: 6809 Hobson Valley Drive, Suite 118, Woodridge

Service area: The pantry supports people who live in DuPage and Will counties.

How to help: To donate to the Neighbors in Need campaign, visit dailyherald.com/neighbors.

More info: (630) 512-9921 or wscpantry.org