Aurora food pantry sets women-only giveaway Jan. 20; pet pantry Wednesday
Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry will hold its third monthly Women's Empowerment Mobile Pantry, a distribution of free food and household items for women only, on Thursday, Jan. 20.
Rebecca Dunnigan, Interfaith community outreach and program director, said the women's pantry will run from 2 to 3 p.m. at Santori Aurora Public Library, 101 S. River St. in Aurora.
Women are invited. Admission and parking are free. Identification is not required.
In addition to food, diapers, formula, baby food and feminine hygiene products will be distributed. The pantry's December distribution at Two Rivers Head Start in Aurora served 72 families.
According to Dunnigan, women's pantries are scheduled for the third Thursday of months in 2022. Locations will be announced.
A grant from Aurora Women's Empowerment Foundation enabled Interfaith to add the women's-only pantry to its popular mobile pantries. Aurora Women's Empowerment, an Aurora-based nonprofit, was formed in 2018 after the Aurora YWCA closed after nearly 125 years.
Amy Bauduin, AWE chair, 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."
A January pet pantry is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Jan. 19, at the facility, 1110 Jericho Road in Aurora. Held indoors, the pantry welcomes families who are ushered into the building by attendants. Visitors are issued service numbers which are called by pantry workers. Clients then choose pet food, pet treats, cat litter and dog beds and collars, if available, for up to two pets.
Dunnigan added that the pantry's first 2022 kids' pop-up mobile distribution will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 5, at Georgetown Elementary School, 995 Long Grove Dr. in Aurora.
Dunnigan said, "This will be a school supply reboot. Since we distributed backpacks of school supplies at this location earlier we thought it would be nice to go back and refill."
Since January 2021, Interfaith mobile pantries have visited parking lots at churches, schools, libraries and senior and low-income residences. Mobile-pantry partners with Interfaith are Fox Valley Park District, Calvary Church of Naperville and Blessings in a Backpack of Chicago. Pantry staff and volunteers unload items from a truck loaned by Calvary Church.
Call (630) 692-3061, email rdunnigan@aurorafoodpantry.org or visit aurorafoodpantry.org for more information.