November 13, 2025
Update: Government Reopens, but Community Need Remains High
Congress has passed and the President signed legislation to restore funding for the federal government and end the shutdown.
The package includes three appropriations bills to fund several departments through the full fiscal year (through September 30, 2026), including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and key federal nutrition programs such as SNAP, WIC, and TEFAP. A continuing resolution will fund the remaining federal agencies through January 30, 2026.
What this means for Northern Illinois Food Bank neighbors:
- SNAP benefits are expected to be restored within 24 to 48 hours of the government reopening.
- While this is welcome news, we know the impact of the shutdown will continue to ripple through our communities.
- Many neighbors missed critical bill payments or drained limited savings to buy food for their families. Now, they face the aftermath of those hard choices
There was an anticipated surge in need even prior to the government shutdown:
- Prior to the government shutdown, we were already planning for increased need and decreased federal grants resulting in a year over year gap of $3-$4M. This has not changed.
- We were expecting a surge in need due to the changes in SNAP reflected in HR1/OBBBA passed in October. This has not changed.
- We are monitoring weekly the increased visits to our network of pantries and feeding sites. In October alone there was a 9% increase in visits.
At Northern Illinois Food Bank, we remain focused on being a source of relief and stability.
As families work to recover and prepare for the holidays, demand for food assistance remains incredibly high.
Here’s what you can expect from us in the days and weeks ahead:
- Maintain essential resources so our neighbors continue to have access to nutritious food.
- Keep neighbors, donors, and volunteers informed about updates to SNAP and other nutrition programs.
- Continue urgently raising food and funds to support our Food Bank network and community recovery.
- Advocate for anti-hunger policies and raise awareness about the ongoing impact of the shutdown on families, seniors, and veterans.
- Engage donors and volunteers in helping meet record-high demand for food assistance.
At Northern Illinois Food Bank, we don’t just provide food, we provide hope.
Together, we’ll continue to ensure every neighbor has the nourishment and support they need to thrive.
Give to the Community Response Fund
Understanding Food Banks
What is a Food Bank?
A Food Bank is a non-profit food distribution center that collects, sorts, and stores food to distribute to its partner agencies and programs such as food pantries, community meal sites, produce distribution partners, senior programs, and children’s programs. These partners work to help ensure that people experiencing hunger have the nutritious food they need every day.
How many Food Banks are there?
Northern Illinois Food Bank is one of 199 Food Banks across the country that partner with Feeding America, our nation’s largest hunger relief organization. In our state, 8 food banks, including Northern Illinois Food Bank, are connected through Feeding Illinois. Each food bank has its own service area, ensuring that every county has access to charitable food.
Where does Northern Illinois Food Bank operate?
We serve our neighbors in 13 counties, covering over 7000 square miles of Northern Illinois:
- Boone County
- DeKalb County
- DuPage County
- Grundy County
- Kane County
- Kankakee County
- Kendall County
- Lake County
- McHenry County
- Ogle County
- Stephenson County
- Will County
- Winnebago County
Who is eligible to receive food?
At Northern Illinois Food Bank’s direct distributions, such as mobile markets, no proof of need, age, or residency is required. At some of our partner agencies that serve specific geographic areas (such as township pantries), proof of address may be required. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps), is a program that provides food-purchasing dollars to low-income neighbors. There are very strict regulations and requirements that determine who can receive SNAP benefits, and how much can be received. These restrictions include income, age, citizenship status and more. Northern Illinois Food Bank employs a team of SNAP experts to help neighbors apply for SNAP benefits and navigate this complicated process. Our SNAP Helpline is 844-600-SNAP (7627).
How many people are served by Northern Illinois Food Bank?
We are currently serving 570,000 neighbors each month.
How much food does Northern Illinois Food Bank distribute?
In our fiscal year 2024 (July 2023-June 2024), we distributed nearly 110 million pounds of food – the equivalent of 90 million meals. 27% of the food our neighbors received was fresh produce, 16% was protein, and 13% was dairy.
Food Sources
Where does Northern Illinois Food Bank’s food come from?
The Food Bank receives food from multiple sources:
• Foods purchased by Northern Illinois Food Bank using funds raised through generous community support (16%)
• Food donations from local grocers, retailers, distribution centers, and community food drives (71%)
• State and federal government programs, such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) and food purchased through the Commodity Credit Corp (CCC) (13%)
Recent Federal Funding Cuts and Their Impact
Food banks have been in the news recently about cuts to hunger relief programs. What is this about?
Besides cuts to SNAP, food banks across the country learned in April 2025 about cuts to two federal programs:
- The Local Food Purchase Agreement (LFPA): This federal program provided funds for food banks to source healthy foods (like fresh produce and proteins) from local, small farmers. The LFPA will end June 30, 2025.
- Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC): Founded during the Great Depression, this funding source, which helps stabilize farm income, has purchased surplus commodities and provided them to food banks since 2018. Some orders scheduled to ship April through July 2025 have been canceled, and CCC will cease to exist.
- The impact on Northern Illinois Food Bank: In the first three quarters of our fiscal year (July 2024-March 2025) we received over 3.5 million meals through LFPA and CCC combined. This means that, moving forward, the Food Bank will need to source and purchase an additional 4.5 million meals per year. This represents about 5% of all the meals the Food Bank currently delivers.
Is there any positive news?
In a category of good news, we just ended our Fiscal Year (July 1 – June 30). Your incredible support has lead to a record-breaking year:
- We distributed 93.4M meals to our neighbors.
- We welcomed more than 7 million visits to our Network partners (agencies and pantries)
- We raised $25.1M against our goal of $22.9M to purchase food, support our network, and fund our operations.
As I always say, nothing happens at the Food Bank without people choosing to get involved and to “do good”. Thank you for stepping up and caring deeply for our neighbors and mission!
I heard that the food that was cancelled was sitting on trucks and is rotting, or that truckloads were turned around. Is that true?
No, this is a false claim, as was the AI image circulating on social media. The truckloads of food that have been canceled are CCC foods that were scheduled to be delivered between April and July 2025. Food was not sitting on trucks, and no truckloads of donations were turned around. Food that had already been purchased by CCC prior to the announcement of its termination is still being delivered. To our knowledge, no food is rotting or going to waste.
Will these cuts affect how much food individuals and families can receive?
Although we are committed to doing everything we can to eliminate hunger in Northern Illinois, we also realize that we must be fiscally responsible to ensure we can fulfill our mission into the future. We are currently assessing the potential impact of increased need, during a time when some food sources are going away and others are costing considerably more. When a funding or source or food supply disappears, we need to fill that gap to continue to serve our neighbors. If we aren’t able to replace lost resources, then YES, our neighbors are impacted. We are grateful for the caring community which supports our efforts, without whom we could not continue.
I would like to personally help the fight hunger – what is the best way for me to get involved?
Thank you for your interest in supporting our mission! Here are a few ways to help:
- Your financial support is crucial! A donation of $100 can help feed a family for a month. Please consider becoming a monthly donor – it’s a convenient and secure way to ensure all our neighbors have the food they need to thrive all year long.
- Join our Advocacy Network to get updates and learn how you can reach out to your elected officials and elevate the need for critical hunger relief programs
- Volunteer your time to ensure that healthy food gets to the people that need it most.