At Northern Illinois Food Bank, Shannon Thompson feels volunteers are family

At 147,000 square feet, the Geneva location of the Northern Illinois Food Bank is twice the size of its former location in St. Charles, where Volunteer Director Shannon Thompson of West Chicago began working in 2001.

Northern Illinois Food Bank is a place “where volunteers can come to give back and a place where neighbors who need food know that they can not only receive food, but also receive hope,” Thompson said.

Thompson feels that the volunteers she works with every day, who have built their own community with one another, are family.

The need continues to grow.

“We’re constantly in the business of trying to put ourselves out of business, but the reality is that people are always going to need some sort of food assistance,” she said. “There’s enough food for everyone. It’s just trying to find ways to get it to them in the most efficient way possible.”

– Sandy Bressner

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