“We are serving more people than ever,” said Rob Desio, senior manager of public policy and benefits for the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

The Northern Illinois Food Bank, which serves food pantries throughout the area, already sees demand at an all-time high and knows it will increase even as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits – known as SNAP – will continue, based on a court order issued to the Trump Administration on Friday.

There is no definitive time when the contingency funding for those benefits will he reinstated.

Northern Illinois Food Bank includes a South Suburban Center in Joliet. The organization is providing food to an average of 570,000 people a month.

Based on past history when SNAP benefits were cut after a temporary increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand on food pantries will go up, Desio said.

“We are bracing for a surge,” he said.

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown, the Associated Press reported

The rulings came a day before the U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the program because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown, the Associated Press reported.

It is not clear when the debit cards that beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after Friday’s ruling. That process often takes one to two weeks, according to the Associated Press.

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent a letter to state SNAP agencies announcing that if the federal government shutdown continued, there would be insufficient funds to pay full November benefits for the about 42 million people across the country – including about 2 million in Illinois - that rely on them.

The USDA sent another letter to state agencies on Oct. 24.stating SNAP benefits would be suspended Nov. 1.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s Office joined a coalition of 26 attorneys general and governors in filing a lawsuit against the USDA and its Secretary Brooke Rollins for unlawfully suspending SNAP, according to Raoul’s office.

In the interim, Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order on Thursday directing $20 million in funding to be directed towards aiding the state’s food banks “to mitigate the harmful policies and actions taken by the Trump Administration.”

All of the legal maneuvering aside, Illinois and Will County residents remain in limbo on their benefits and local organizations are left scrambling to find ways to make sure food is getting on people’s tables.

Northern Illinois Food Bank is encouraging pantries to stock up for an increase in food demand.

“We know that people lose SNAP they come to pantries for food,” Desio said.

But can local food pantries meet the need that is coming?

“I hope that something gets done so that the pantries aren’t the only ones that are feeding people,” said Sonya Pedersen, pantry director at St. John Lutheran Church in Joliet.

Every Saturday morning, cars line up along Hennepin Drive waiting to get into the church near the Louis Joliet Mall for pantry food.

The lines have been getting longer the last couple of weeks, Pedersen said.

“I hope we have enough,” she said Wednesday, looking ahead to the possibility that SNAP benefits will be cut off. “Last Saturday we had just enough.”

On a typical Saturday, 350 cars arrive at St. John’s. That number has grown to 430 the last two weeks, she said.

Pedersen said she does not know if the pending cut-off of SNAP benefits have led to increased demand at St. John’s pantry.

“Most conversations I’ve had with people, they’re just having trouble making ends meet,” she said. “I’ve had a few conversations with people concerned about their benefits disappearing.”

Elizabeth Protich, senior program manager for River Walk Homes in Joliet, said they’ve already seen a higher demand at their food pantry.

“We have seen an increase of 20 households each week in all three distributions since the announcement of the freezing of federal food aid,” Protich said.

Riverwalk Homes is still running their Holsten Human Capital Development HEAL Pantry two days a week, Protich said.

“Right now we’re getting our regular clients, but every day we’re open we seem to get one or two more families coming in,” said Lockport FISH food pantry secretary Kathy Hamilton.

The private pantry, which is run out of the same building as Lockport Township government offices at 1463 S. Farrell Road, serves between 140 and 150 families from Lockport and Homer townships each month.

Hamilton said she would not be surprised if the pantry saw people register for assistance in November and December and then not return once the government shut down ends and SNAP benefits return, something she said is allowed and encouraged for those who need assistance.

“I’m curious what next week will bring,” said Hamilton. “We expect it may increase, but we’ve been getting a lot of people reaching out about donating at the holidays, so we should be in good shape. If anyone needs us, we’re here. They may have to wait a while if it gets busy, but we’ll get them in and get something in their baskets.”

The Lockport FISH pantry runs entirely off private donations from the Northern Illinois Food Bank, individuals, and community organizations including church and school food drives.

Layoffs, inflation and ICE

Grace Tucker, DuPage Township communications director and volunteer at the township pantry, said the federal government shutdown has caused greater need overall.

“SNAP is just one more level of awful added to a bad situation. When the shut down happened and federal employees started missing paychecks it starts to drive more need,” she said.

The township food pantry is located at 719 Parkwood Ave., Romeoville.

Tucker and DuPage Township Food Pantry Director of Operations Teresa Crafton said that while the pantry already sees residents waiting up to two hours in lines to pick up groceries, they expect to see more and more families coming in for assistance in the coming weeks as SNAP benefits expire and federal employees continue to go without pay.

“In general we’ve seen an increase this year already,” said Crafton. “As of the end of September, we’d already seen over 1,000 more families since January than we had in the same timeframe last year. And that was before the shut down. The last few weeks have been very busy.”

In addition to the problems stemming from the shut down, Crafton said factors such as inflation and cost of living increases, as well as layoffs and hour cut backs in private industries have lead to an increased need across northern Illinois.

Tucker added that increased action and presence of U.S, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the region have had an effect on the situation as well.

“If the breadwinner of a family is deported or can’t go to work, families can’t put food on the table,” she said.

Despite the growing need in the community, the pantry volunteers and staff remain optimistic they can continue to meet those needs and encourage township residents to make use of the food pantry’s services.

“Food is more accessible than utilities,” Crafton said. “If money is tight, don’t pay for food. You can come to the food pantry and use the money to pay for rent, or utilities, or school fees. People shouldn’t feel bad about utilizing a service they need. We’re here to help, we want to get rid of the stigma.”

In addition to serving nearly 4,000 families, the DuPage Township Food Pantry and it’s 130 weekly volunteers also support six local micro pantries and runs a backpack food program through Valley View School District, which serves Bolingbrook and Romeoville.

“We’re really thankful for our partnership with the Northern Illinois Food Bank and our vendors,” said Crafton, who noted that the organization receives donations from stores around the area including multiple Aldi, Walmart, Meijer, Jewel, and Target locations.

Northern Illinois Food Bank provides food to more than 360 pantries. But it is nowhere near providing the level of food that SNAP provides.

For every one person that the food bank is able to provide, SNAP typically provides for nine, he said.

“We are not at the scale of SNAP,” Desio said. “We are not able to replace SNAP.”