Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry to hold Dec. 16 giveaway for women only

Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry will hold its second Women's Pantry, a distribution of food and household items for women only, on Thursday, Dec. 16.

Rebecca Dunnigan, Interfaith community outreach and program director, said the women's pantry will run from 2 to 3 p.m. at Two Rivers Head Start, 1455 Sullivan Road in Aurora.

Women are invited to pick up free food and household items. ID is not required. Parking is free.

The inaugural women's pantry served 57 families Nov. 18 at Aurora's Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.

According to Dunnigan, women's pantries are scheduled for the third Thursday of the month for the coming year. Locations will be announced.

With help from a civic group, Interfaith added the women's-only pantry to its popular mobile pantries launched in January. With pantry staff and volunteers, a pantry truck visits area locations to distribute food and household items.

Dunnigan credited a grant from Aurora Women's Empowerment Foundation (AWE) for the women's pantries. AWE, an Aurora-based nonprofit, was formed in 2018 after the Aurora YWCA closed after nearly 125 years.

AWE chair Amy Baudouin said, "Our mission is to elevate and empower Aurora-area women and future women by making grants to tax-exempt nonprofits engaged in meaningful, measurable work that helps women over the hurdles of inequity and exclusion, propelling them forward with life-changing programs and services."

Since January, Interfaith drive-through pantries have visited parking lots at churches, schools, libraries and senior and low-income residences.

Mobile-pantry partners with Interfaith were Fox Valley Park District, Calvary Church of Naperville and Blessings in a Backpack of Chicago.

For more information, call (630) 692-3061, email rdunnigan@aurorafoodpantry.org or visit aurorafoodpantry.org.