According to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, one in five households in the Chicago area is facing food insecurity. A national report found that 17 million households were food insecure at some point in 2022.
food insecurity
Food Insecurity is on the Rise Again. How Chicagoans Are Helping Meet the Need Ahead of the Holidays
Since it first opened inside a health clinic in 2018 and moved to a deconsecrated church in 2019, the Pilsen Food Pantry has expanded its offerings and ambition.
Soaring food prices are adding strains on families who are seeing reductions in multiple kinds of financial assistance. One federal program that ends this month had given nearly 30 million Americans extra food stamps during the pandemic.
Households in Illinois receiving SNAP food benefits will see them decrease in March as a pandemic-era policy giving families additional benefits comes to an end. The average person will receive about $90 less in SNAP benefits per month.
A food pantry in Pilsen has been operating out of a former church for the last two years. The founder is hoping to buy the building but says she is running into obstacles with the Chicago Archdiocese.
As anyone who’s gone grocery shopping recently knows, food prices are on the rise. In Chicago, 28% of Latino families with kids are facing food insecurity according to a study done in 2020. And, families that rely on schools to provide meals for their children are feeling an extra pinch with kids at home during the summer break.
