Feeding Our Neighbors
in Northern Illinois

Updated January 4, 2022

We’re All in this Together

*Photo courtesy of Joliet Junior College

How to Get Help

Find a Mobile Market
If you or someone you know needs food, you can find your nearest Mobile Market or program here. We strongly recommend calling before you go to confirm distribution dates/times. At the bottom of this page is a list of agency closures which will be updated regularly. We are constantly adding Mobile Market locations throughout our service area. To see if there is one coming to a town near you, visit our Mobile Market Calendar and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates about upcoming distributions.

For the communities of DeKalb, North Chicago and Rockford, you may order groceries online to pick-up at a specified location and time through My Pantry Express.

SNAP
Our SNAP Outreach team is available and continues to assist with SNAP (food stamp) applications and can answer questions in regards to other resources or locating a pantry. Fill out our SNAP Contact Form, or call our hotline at 844-600-7627 to talk with a member of our team or leave a message and a team member will call you back ASAP. 

Other Resources
We know visiting a pantry or seeking help can be difficult when you don’t know what to expect. Read about the Myths and Facts about the charitable food network.

Food is just one of many challenges our neighbors are facing. With that in mind, we have developed the Northern Illinois COVID-19 Resource Guide. It has listings of county-specific and statewide resources available during this time.

How to Give Help

Donate
If you are able to make a financial donation you can help support the Food Bank’s operations during this time of increased need. Every $1 donated helps provide $8 in groceries for our neighbors. Make a gift online now, or mail your gift to 273 Dearborn Court, Geneva, IL, 60134. We also accept gifts of stock or from donor advised funds.

Community Food Donations
After temporarily suspending our community food donations, we are now accepting food donations at our four Centers. We have a contactless drop off bins at each facility and donors may choose to take a receipt if they choose. If you are not close to one of the Food Bank Centers (Geneva, Joliet, Park City, Rockford), we encourage you to find your nearest pantry here, and contact them directly to inquire about their food needs.

Volunteer
Northern Illinois Food Bank continues to accept and rely on volunteers at our Centers and food distributions. The Food Bank will continue to operate as we have been during the pandemic with safety measures in place in terms of social distancing, hand washing and mask requirements. We continue to monitor CDC guidelines regularly to ensure we are following the very latest COVID prevention recommendations and safety protocols, and will update any internal Food Bank policies as needed.

Based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

If You Test Positive for COVID-19 (Isolate)

a.) Everyone, regardless of vaccination status:

• Stay home for 5 days.
• If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after 5 days, you can leave your house.
• Continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.

If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever resolves.

If You Were Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine)

a.) If you have been boosted OR Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last 6 months OR Completed the primary series of J&J vaccine within the last 2 months:

• Wear a mask around others for 10 days.
• Test on day 5, if possible.

If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.

b.) If you completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over 6 months ago and are not boosted OR Completed the primary series of J&J over 2 months ago and are not boosted OR Are unvaccinated:

• Stay home for 5 days. After that continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.
• If you can’t quarantine you must wear a mask for 10 days.
• Test on day 5 if possible.

If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.

Other guidelines for Northern Illinois Food Bank Volunteer shifts and distributions:

• Masks are optional for all indoor and outdoor volunteer shifts. Please be considerate of those volunteers, neighbors and Food Bank staff who choose to wear masks and social distance as necessary. • Staff and volunteers are asked to comply with the Chicago Department of Public Health Travel Guidance. Any unvaccinated people who have traveled to High Level areas are advised to stay home from the Food Bank and self-quarantine for 5 days after travel and take a COVID test 3-5 days after they return.
  • The Food Bank will continue with our modified volunteer shift capacities in order to ensure we have the ability to practice social distancing. You may view openings on our calendar here.

Your Impact

The Food Bank is committed to continuing our operations and utilizing our staff, volunteers and agency network to serve our neighbors to the best of our ability every day and especially during this crisis. The Food Bank has been responding to the increased need in our communities since mid-March 2020. In October through March 2021, we have provided over 7M meals monthly, an increase of 3M per month from 2019 at this time.

Some key strategies over the past seven months to meet the increased need:

• Added pop-up market distributions and increased number of mobile pantry distributions each week- 871 distributions total as of February 2021.

• Granted over $1.7M in funding to our agency network for food and capacity building.

• Increased investment in purchased food and aggressively sourced government and donated food.

• Expanded our SNAP (food stamps) outreach team and hours for hotline to assist neighbors seeking assistance.

• Increased number of families served at our direct to neighbor programs – My Pantry Express with 17 locations, Winnebago Community Market, Senior Box.