West Suburban pantry reaches $600K fundraising goal to expand capacity

Uncertainty plagued the West Suburban Community Pantry a year ago, when the onset of the COVID-19 crisis forced the organization to shift gears operationally and halt efforts to boost capacity.

Executive Director Laura Coyle was unsure how significantly the Woodridge pantry's fundraising and expansion goals would be affected, how long drive-up and remote services would be necessary, how drastically demand would increase throughout DuPage and Will counties.

"We immediately went into 'just keep swimming' mode," she said. "I honestly had no idea whether everything we had planned to achieve would be put indefinitely on hold."

But as the pantry's commitment to helping needy families persisted through the pandemic, so did the community's generosity, Coyle said.

The organization reached its $600,000 fundraising target last month through its "Access 2020: Building Capacity, Breaking Down Barriers" initiative, a capital campaign launched in late 2019 to support a major renovation of its client service and warehouse space, 6809 Hobson Valley Drive, Suite 118.

The goal, pantry leaders say, is to break down pride barriers and double the number of people served by 2030.

Work began last summer and is about 90% complete, Coyle said, adding operations remained open through construction. The warehouse was expanded, private intake offices and a waiting room were added, and a portion of the facility has been dedicated to fulfilling online orders - a new service offered by the pantry.

Several distribution sites were added throughout its geographical area, she said, allowing the organization to "put less burden on clients to come and find us, and put more focus on us putting food out into the community." The facility also offers curbside pickup.

With the funding initiative now complete, largely thanks to a matching donation from the Perma-Seal Community Fund with the DuPage Foundation, Coyle said, West Suburban leaders are wrapping up renovations to the pantry store and finalizing other minor facility improvements.

"We're right at the finish line," she said. "It was a huge undertaking for our donors and our team and our volunteers to kind of work around the construction because we never once closed our doors."

Good thing, she added, given the drastic spike in need for food and resources over the last year.

Demand nearly doubled in the first few months of the COVID-19 crisis and still hovers around 40% to 50% higher than prepandemic levels, Coyle said, requiring pantry leaders to get creative. A drive-through was set up to distribute boxes of prepacked food, assistance programs were shifted to a remote setting, and the pantry worked closely with local school districts and social workers to ensure families in need had access to meals.

Even as the economy rebounds, Coyle predicts food insecurity will remain higher than average for at least a few years. But between the fundraising efforts, construction project and new services, she said, the pantry is "feeling much more well equipped to address it." "The generosity of the community continues to sustain us," Coyle said. "We're just grateful to be able to do the work and have the resources to do it."