June 30, 2025
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Volunteers, organizers expect record number of people at upcoming Plano food pantry distribution event

By David Petesch
Butch Burrell of Woodridge sorts dry goods while volunteering at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva Mar. 31.

FILE PHOTO: Butch Burrell of Woodridge sorts dry goods while volunteering at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva Mar. 31, 2021. The Kendall County Community Food Pantry purchases food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank for its local food distribution events. (Mark Black for Shaw Local)

PLANO – Volunteers and organizers are expecting to serve a record number of people during their monthly food pantry distribution event Friday, Oct. 21.

The event takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. the third Friday of each month at the First Lutheran Church of Plano, 200 N. Center St., in collaboration with the Kendall County Community Food Pantry and St. Mary’s Church of Plano.

Those in need can come to the church, free of cost, get registered in minutes, and bring home a shopping cart full of fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, frozen meat, canned goods and other groceries.

The Rev. Johnathan Black, pastor at First Lutheran, said his church usually serves between 50 and 70 clients during each event, but lately those numbers have been rising. Last month, the church served more than 75 clients, feeding about 200 people.

The event is run almost entirely by volunteers. KCCFP provides the food and computer infrastructure for registration, and the churches provide the space and volunteers.

Suzanne Stegeman is the executive director and only paid staff member of the KCCFP. She said much of the food it provides comes from within the community.

Stegeman said the food pantry has teams of volunteers who travel to grocery stores all over Kendall County collecting donations of food to stock the shelves of their center.

To offer a balanced diet and range of options, the KCCFP fills the missing food categories with items purchased from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

Stegeman said the food pantry holds a distribution event from their center every Thursday, in addition to the daily food pantry and other remote events they assist with, like the distribution event in Plano.

Stegman said the KCCFP saw a record number of clients last week. She said they serve an average of 220-240 clients each week, but last week they served almost 300 people.

Stegeman said 35% of the people they serve are seniors and 40% are children younger than 18.

Stegeman believes the recent growth is due to a combination of trends. She said many former clients who received pandemic-related funding and stopped coming are now returning as those funds have run out. In addition to the returning clientele, KCCFP is also seeing a wave of new clients signing up.