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. It also set a record in October 2025, averaging 84 families served per distribution day. It has served nearly 7,000 families this year, RCFP Board President Cal Jacobs said.

The food pantry is open Tuesdays and Fridays from 12:30-3:30 p.m. People can either pick up boxes or come in and do their own shopping. On distribution days, cars are often lined up as early as 9 a.m. and occasionally distribution starts early to serve the large number of people in time.

RCFP has seen rising numbers for the better part of two years. Jacobs said he’s unsure of how much of the recent rise can be attributed to people losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits

“We’ve heard some talk from clients about the loss of SNAP,” Jacobs said. “I don’t know for sure how many SNAP clients we have. I would assume it’s quite a few but I don’t know that for sure. I’m sure it’s a factor. We have had people come in and say they’re here because they have less benefits.”

RCFP has been able to keep up with the additional demand so far with food supply, volunteers and donations, Jacobs said. Some days, he wonders how the food pantry is able to keep up with numbers that he said would be unbelievable two years ago.

Items that are in the most demand at RCFP are meat, produce and diapers, Jacobs said. On Nov. 14, the food pantry ran out of hamburger meat, which hasn’t happened “in ages,” Jacobs said. If community members want to donate items or money or volunteer, they can stop by the food pantry on its distribution days.

Sixteen volunteers each distribution day have helped RCFP to keep up with demand. Those volunteers make what the food pantry does possible, Jacobs said.

With the current climate of food insecurity, RCFP has seen an uptick in donations recently, Jacobs said. But that may not be enough to keep up with rising costs, and Northern Illinois Food Bank supplies may not be either.

“Last Friday, we unloaded a truck from the Northern Illinois Food Bank with 14,000 pounds of food,” Jacobs said Nov. 14. “Our cupboards weren’t bare before that, but they were getting pretty close. That was about $7,000 worth of food. We get that twice a month. I’m not sure how we can sustain $14,000 worth of food a month.”

Jacobs called the food insecurity situation “scary”, and attributes it to increases in rent and grocery store prices and decreases in government benefits.

“I’m afraid this is sustainable,” Jacobs said. “I don’t see anything in the near future that is going to turn this situation around. As far as how sustainable it is for this place, we’ll give until we can’t give anymore. That’s all I can tell you.”

Jacobs doesn’t think that the majority of the community understands what happens at RCFP on Tuesdays and Fridays and how dire the food situation is in Rochelle. He hopes more awareness will be seen, and bring with it donations of dollars and food.

“I wish I knew what the future holds for all this,” Jacobs said. “I wish I knew if we were going to hit a plateau and stay there or if we’re going to just keep on climbing like we have for the last 20 months. If this place wasn’t here, this would be a hurting town. If we weren’t here, there would be a lot of people going hungry. It’s a lot of weight to shoulder.”