The DuPage Foundation has awarded $100,000 in emergency food response grants to five agencies to help fight food insecurity.

The $500 donation will be used to purchase meat, produce and dairy to give to those in need in the local community.

A national publication, Food Bank News, named Northern Illinois Food Bank CEO Julie Yurko was named 2025 Food Bank Leader of the Year.

The Plano Methodist Church collected over 125 items to be donated to the Kendall County Food Pantry.

Each December, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs' office returns ICash money to nonprofit groups helping people in need. This year, Frerichs decided to assist food pantries.

All in need are welcome to visit the pantry location at First Lutheran Church in Plano, 200 N. Center St.

While wanting to help is commendable, it’s important to prioritize food safety. Those relying on food pantries often face higher risks of severe illness due to chronic health conditions, age or other factors.

GROW Spring Valley mounted a drive to assist the Hall Township Food Pantry and the finally tally astounded everyone. More than one and half tons of food arrived this week to meet the holiday demand.

A group of Logical Position employees recently delivered a $4,000 check to the Northern Illinois Food Bank. This contribution will help provide roughly 133 meals and support more than 1,000 people across Lake County.

Faces and vehicles were lit up for the 2025 Plano Rockin’ Christmas on Dec. 5. Community members were serenaded by students performing in the Plano Middle School Jazz Band and the Emily G Johns Band.

The 17th annual Freezin’ for a Reezin’ event was held on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 outside of the WCMY studios downtown Ottawa. Donations supported the Community Food Basket of Ottawa.

Launched in 2023, NIU's Huskie Harvest has recovered more than 20,000 pounds of food to date, and provided more than 30,000 meals to students. But the need is growing. “We deliver between 700 and 800 meals a week, and we can’t keep up,” Nancy Prange said.

Leaf River Soaring Eagles 4-H Club members donated some nonperishable food and a check to Loaves and Fish Food Pantry.

The bank is collecting nonperishable food items to help families in need within the community. The drive will run until Dec. 15, 2025.

The 20th annual Two-Ton Thanksgiving Food Drive in Rochelle, hosted by 102.3 The Coyote, SuperHits 93.5, and Prescott Brothers Ford, set new records this year with more food and monetary donations than ever.

As part of the restaurant chain’s commitment to combating hunger, Chick-fil-A has selected 22 food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens to surprise with $25,000 grants this holiday season.

The Northern Illinois Food Bank is expected to feed more people this holiday season than in previous years, including the pandemic era, despite government assistance like SNAP reinstated to help put food on the table.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and other attorneys general are asking the federal court to vacate the new SNAP guidance and block its implementation “to ensure that families do not lose critical food assistance,” Raoul's office said

Geneva preschoolers recently collected hundreds of pounds of food to donate to the Northern Illinois Food Bank ahead of Thanksgiving.

Volunteers from the Polo Lifeline Food Pantry helped distribute food items from the Northern Illinois Food Bank's mobile food pantry truck Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025.

Students at St. Anne's School in Dixon collected and donated food Friday, Nov. 21, to the Dixon Food Pantry.

TD Ryan, host of the TD Ryan Unleashed podcast, hosted his annual Let’s Talk Turkey Thanksgiving food drive Friday at the Salvation Army food pantry in DeKalb.

Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital kicked off its annual food drive early this year, and extended the collection period by two weeks.

Constellation, owner of the Byron Nuclear Plant, presented a $15,000 donation to the Rochelle Christian Food Pantry on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.

A long line of cars packed the Illinois Valley Food Pantry during their annual Thanksgiving Distribution on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in Peru. Nearly 500 families or roughly 1,200 people in the Illinois Valley got a Thanksgiving meal.

A group of students at Lyons Township High School have published a cookbook that is being distributed to clients of a local food pantry

A long line of cars wrapped around the building during the Thanksgiving distribution on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 at the Hall Township Food Pantry in Spring Valley. Nearly 500 families will receive food from this years distribution.

Some Ogle County food pantries have seen client increases of up to 30%.

Community Cares and Oswego School District 308 come together to help those in need with a coat drive and a list of food pantries in the area.

The Rochelle Christian Food Pantry at 770 Lincoln Ave. saw an all-time record with 237 families served during the week of Nov. 2-8, 2025.

DuPage County plans to shift funds to support food pantries that have become a lifeline for people who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy groceries

An annual Thanksgiving food drive will have the same host but a new home this year, collecting frozen turkeys for an estimated 750 DeKalb County-area families in need. TD Ryan’s Let’s Talk Turkey food drive returns Nov. 21 in DeKalb.

The West Suburban Food Pantry is facing new challenges as the need for food continues to increase

Rochelle Township High School recently announced the launch of its schoolwide “Dodging Hunger Initiative,” a community-centered effort designed to alleviate hunger within RTHS and throughout the Rochelle area.

The Joliet Police Department is partnering with the The Salvation Army Joliet Corps Community Center for its annual holiday food drive: Patrol for Hunger! Food pantries are reporting higher demand.

The food drive in Lockport was meant to provide short-term assistance to families impacted by the uncertainty with SNAP funding amid the historic government shutdown.

Plano Methodist Church gathered for a community work day and First Lutheran Church will be holding a food pantry for the community.

The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states already have received the funds

The Prophetstown-Lyndon Food Pantry is open from 9-11 a.m. every Tuesday at the American Legion Hall at 215 Washington St., Prophetstown.

All 17 St. Charles District 303 schools and administration stepped up to support the St. Charles Public Library Community Cabinet with food donations. The Community Cabinet is available when it is open to anyone who needs food.

The League of Women Voters of Glen Ellyn will host a community panel, “Combatting Poverty fom 7 to 8:15 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Glen Ellyn Police Station Community Room, 535 Duane St.

Board of Directors: Please help us help our neighbors. We need cash donations to help us purchase the food items we need to meet both current demands and this new surge.

As nonprofits, businesses and individuals across northern Illinois prepared for the uncertainty surrounding SNAP, President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund the food assistance program

Indivisible Sauk Valley hosted a No Kings protest and food drive Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Sterling.

President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP after a pair of judges’ rulings required it to keep the food aid program running

Indivisible Sauk Valley organized a No Kings protest and food drive Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Sterling.

People across the country formed long lines for free meals and groceries at food pantries and drive-through giveaways Saturday, after monthly benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, were cut off

There is no definitive time when the contingency funding for SNAP benefits will kick in, despite a court order to the Trump Administration on Friday.

Food pantries across northern Illinois have already been anticipating an increase in demand as a result of almost $200 billion in cuts in the next 10 years to the SNAP program.

Here are some of the places to donate food to help those in need and where to find food distribution programs in Will County. Lockport fire volunteers will be at Jewel on Sunday