About the Food Pantry

The Elk Grove Presbyterian Church Food Pantry was established in 1988 and is managed by a team of committed volunteers. We provide food and essential grocery items to Elk Grove residents who are experiencing difficult financial times. These residents include single parent families, two-parent families, seniors, and temporarily or permanently disabled persons referred to us by the staff of the Elk Grove Community Service Office. Currently we are providing food to approximately forty households twice a month, as well as numerous walk-ins referred to us by the Kenneth Young Center and other social service organizations. In addition, we provide food and volunteers for the Weekend Food Backpack program for children in need at Prince of Peace Church and other smaller local food pantries that are in need.

What’s New

In September 2021 we converted our facility into a self-service pantry where clients can select their own groceries from our shelves, instead of groceries that have been chosen for them by our volunteers. We are fortunate to be able to also offer meat, milk, eggs, cheese, fresh fruits & vegetables in addition to a large variety of pantry staples like juice, cereal, canned goods, side dishes, cookies, crackers and more. We also provide personal hygiene and non-food items such as toilet paper and laundry detergent that cannot be purchased with the SNAP program cards.

Donations

Our pantry operates strictly on donations and has been successful because of the ongoing support of local businesses, service clubs and organizations, churches, public institutions, individuals, families, and corporate partners who have generously provided food and monetary donations to keep our shelves stocked. We are truly blessed to have such dedicated donors supporting us through the years. Monetary donations allow us to purchase perishable items each week such as meat, milk, eggs, and fresh produce as well as rarely donated items such as diapers and laundry detergent. Our volunteers work tirelessly to ensure food is purchased, shelves are stocked, and clients feel welcome every week!

How To Help

Non-perishable items can be dropped off in the donation box by the Church front door. You may also call the church office to arrange a drop off time for larger donations or perishable items. Monetary donations are very much appreciated and can be made by check or online through our secure website link. As a special note, all donations are tax deductible.

Needed pantry items are published weekly in the Elk Grove Presbyterian Church newsletter which can be viewed here, or sign up here to receive the newsletter each week.

Our Volunteers in Action!

History

Our pantry was initiated in 1988 by Karen Bolin and Ed & Doris May. It opened on December 1st, 1988 with a grant from the Presbyterian Synod of Lincoln Trails. The Community Service coordinator of Elk Grove agreed to screen clients and refer them to us. This continues to this day, leaving us out of deciding who is eligible for our services.

The pantry room was built in the mid 70’s to house items for the Township Day Care Center. The center outgrew our fellowship hall and moved to its present location.

This left an empty room. The pantry converted it to our use. Substantial shelving was provided by the Clarbours and Arlington Structural Steel. No Church funds have been used for this project and in fact the food pantry pays for pest control, garbage and recycling costs as well as a portion of electricity, heat, etc. based on an estimate of our use.

Initially we purchased food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank for 12 cents/lb. We have not needed to do that since 2006.

The Food Pantry Annual Report

Facts

• The pantry opened December 1, 1988. We have been serving hungry families for 31 years!
• In 2018 we served an average of 47 different households, and 183 different persons in a month.
• In 2019 we served and average of 55 different households, and 187 different persons per month.

Figures

• The food donation from the Letter Carriers Drive was just over 8,500 lbs in May.
• The November & December donations of food by local businesses, service clubs and organizations, churches, public institutions, individuals, and families were very generous (about 3,000 lbs)!
• Summarily, our financial report is in the black, even though financial donations have been a bit down. Our financial donations are used to buy seldom donated items & fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as garbage collection, food store gift cards, and donations to Pine Ave. Church

Additionally

In November we started helping the new Harper College Food Pantry and will continue to help them on a quarterly basis. Many of their students came to school hungry. More information about this will be available soon.

We are blessed to have generous support from the community who run several food drives throughout the year and we always welcome new donations from new individuals, families, and organizations.

This year we received financial donations from: First Baptist Church of Elk Grove, Holy Spirit Church, Christus Victor, Character Counts Coalition, and Prince of Peace. Prince of Peace now houses a community garden and we receive a portion of that produce. Christus Victor continues to have a garden and the produce comes to us. This is just a small example of our many contributors.