How to help food pantries as coronavirus upends operations

The Aurora Food Pantry likens itself to a community market, a bright, sprawling space where people from as far as the Illinois-Wisconsin border can pick out their groceries twice a week.

But the coronavirus outbreak reverberating through nearly every aspect of public life has upended the operations of the pantry and other nonprofit groups addressing food insecurity.

The Aurora pantry is running without a core group of volunteers just as advocates expect the customer base to grow from the economic fallout of the health crisis and a wave of school closings disrupts meals for students facing hunger.

“We saw — wait for this — a 34% uptick in visitors on Thursday,” Executive Director Cat Battista said.

New visitors came in because of a layoff or concerns they wouldn't be able to afford food in the coming weeks, Battista said.

To keep the pantry clean and stocked, Battista is putting out urgent calls for donations of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, face masks, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, diapers and rubber or plastic gloves — supplies difficult to find in retail stores amid coronavirus panic buying.

“At this point, our own staff is bringing in products that we have at home for our families to keep things up and running,” Battista said.

For consumers who have hoarded surplus goods, Battista has a message: “Could you please share some of those resources with us so we can continue to distribute food to the hungry?”

Instead of choosing what they want on the shelves of an 18,000-square-foot market, visitors are now picking up boxes filled with the basics without leaving their cars. The drive-through will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays in the parking lot of a pantry that serves 113,000 visitors a year.

The building itself will remain on a soft-lockdown and have limited access to staff and select personnel.

“The pantry is also concerned about increased security threats to the facility in light of the rising hysteria over consumer goods,” Battista said. “For this reason, we will be partnering closely with local law enforcement to make sure our building stays secure and personnel stay safe.”

The pantry's new COVID-19 planning committee also has canceled a court-ordered community service program that provides most of its volunteers and turned away seniors wanting to help because of their high risk of infection.

“It's a lot easier to enforce strict health and hygienic compliance policies and procedures with paid personnel in comparison to volunteers that support our program,” Battista said.

At Food for Greater Elgin, 153 families came through the pantry Thursday night, up from the usual 120 or so.

“I expect we'll have a lot more to do,” interim Executive Director Michael Montgomery said.

He's also developing contingency plans in the event more volunteers hunker down at home. Four registrars called in Friday to say they weren't showing up, and while that sounds like a small number, Montgomery said they're skilled volunteers who use computer software to process clients under required registration rules.

The pantry may try to “tough it out” with a smaller group of volunteers or shift all distributions to the evenings, when it can attract a younger base of volunteers, Montgomery said.

Hours for distribution now are 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays and 11 a.m.to 1 p.m. Wednesdays.

Guests have been given gloves when handling produce. The pantry also is welcoming people into the building in groups of 10 to prevent overcrowding in waiting rooms.

“We have made some changes to make this a safer experience for everyone, especially at this time,” Montgomery said.

He and Battista both agree the most efficient way to help is to donate money through the pantry websites. A $10 donation buys $80 worth of products from the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which acts as a distribution center to the pantries.

The Food Bank plans to pack 1,250 “emergency” boxes of food and cleaning supplies that will be distributed across the agency network. That packing effort is set for Wednesday at the Food Bank's West Suburban Center in Geneva. The 28-pound boxes will contain soap, toilet paper, beans, rice, pasta, canned vegetables, fruit and other staples.

“We should be OK for a while,” Battista said. “We're going to be hit on dairy and fresh produce and protein, but we have a lot of other canned goods that will help people get through.”