Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry to host drive-through food giveaway June 5

Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry's mobile pantry will distribute free food and other items during a drive-through giveaway Saturday, June 5, from 10 a.m. to noon at Palace Street Park, Palace Street and Michigan Avenue in Aurora.

Area residents are invited. Admission is free. Identification is not required.

Food for 200 families will be available on a first-come basis. Items to be distributed include granola bars, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, pasta, pasta sauce, eggs, ground beef, cereal, applesauce, apple juice and box dinners. Additionally, toilet paper, laundry detergent, hygiene items and books from Aurora Public Library will be included. Fox Valley United Way will provide information on its programs.

Rebecca "Becky" Dunnigan, pantry community outreach and program coordinator, said patrons do not need to leave their vehicles to claim food. Pantry volunteers observing pandemic safety procedures will load $140 bags of groceries into patrons' vehicles.

The event is Interfaith's 11th biweekly mobile pantry since January. Prior drive-through were held in Aurora, Oswego, Montgomery, Plano and Crest Hill.

Interfaith partners with Fox Valley Park District, Calvary Church of Naperville and Blessings in a Backpack of Chicago to provide free groceries to local families at the pop-ups.

Assisting Dunnigan is Rev. Kyle Dern, Calvary outreach pastor. He drives a church truck that transports food to distribution sites. About 10 volunteers, including Calvary congregants and food pantry personnel, assist at the pantries.

Call (630) 692-3061 or visit aurorafoodpantry.org for more information.