The need is ‘going to increase’ . Local food pantries struggle to meet the rising demand of clients

Before the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, local food pantries already were witnessing an increase in the number of clients at their facilities.

With the bill’s passage and the elimination of about $200 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, local food pantries are left to make up the loss of food on their shelves while expecting a higher client volume.

“The need is only going to increase,” said Terri Venzon, pantry services manager with Glen House Food Pantry in Glen Ellyn.

“We had a waitlist of more than 100 clients,” she said.

Even after Glen House Food Pantry added an evening volunteer shift to accommodate 25 more clients, “We still are in need of additional volunteers,” Venzon said.

New clients are contacting the pantry “nearly every day now,” she said.

Venzon said the pantry is forced to buy more food than it has before “because we are not getting as much donated.”

“With the increased client demand, we need to have food to stock the shelves,” she said.

Venzon said Glen House Food Pantry sends out a weekly needs list that can vary from personal care items to food items that the organization cannot get from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

Items can be dropped off at the rear doors of the pantry, 55 N. Park Blvd., Glen Ellyn, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. to noon Friday.

“We always need paper brown bags with handles,” Venzon said.

Before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s passage, Woodridge-based West Suburban Community Pantry already was seeing a 15% increase in the number of clients visiting the pantry over 2024 when it served 1,000 families a week, said Maeven Sipes, West Suburban Community Pantry’s chief executive officer.

This is compounded by receiving 4,000 to 5,000 fewer pounds of donated food a month, Sipes said.

“What concerns us from the Big Beautiful Bill is that the cuts to the SNAP program will mean less of our families are eligible for the program or will receive less benefits each month,” Sipes said.

This will result in more frequent visits to the food pantry by clients and an even further increase in the number of individuals visiting the pantry “when they didn’t have to before,” she said.

Still, Sipes said, “We are going to do what we can to continue to be a resource for our neighbors. We rely on community support to do that. Over 75% of our food is donated and 100% of our dollars are donated through private donations.”

West Suburban Community Pantry is developing a monthly monetary donation program in anticipation of the “impact this [bill] is going to have on our families in the coming months and years,” Sipes said. “And we want to continue to provide food.”

In Illinois, the Northern Illinois Food Bank estimates the cost burden of the new bill could exceed $1.2 billion annually and put 360,000 Illinoisans at risk of losing SNAP eligibility.

“We are looking at the cuts coming from the USDA and the changes through the Big Beautiful Bill and trying to figure out the best path forward for all of us because we are fully committed to the work that we do,” said Julie Yurko, president and chief executive officer of the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

The Northern Illinois Food Bank provides 250,000 meals a day through its partners at more than 900 area food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in more than 13 counties in Illinois.

A few months ago, the Northern Illinois Food Bank launched a Community Response Fund after it began anticipating a 40% reduction in the amount of food received from the federal government.

This left the organization “with a $3 to $4 million gap,” Yurko said.

To help, she is encouraging people to use their voice and make their elected officials as well as family and friends aware of their concerns for those suffering from food and financial insecurity.

“Changes coming down to SNAP and Medicaid are going to make those people’s financial gap even wider,” Yurko said.