Deerfield Chef, Mom Serves Up Solutions To Food Insecurity Need

DEERFIELD, IL — Karen Nochimowski has a history of catching inspiration in the middle of the night. The flash will usually hit around 3 a.m. and by now, the Deerfield mother of three knows better than to ignore it and hope it still exists in the morning.

Nochimowski, a food blogger and home chef who is the culinary brains behind MommaChef.com, once came up with the idea to provide home-cooked, six- or seven-course meals at a weekly soup kitchen at a synagogue in the Chicago neighborhood of West Rogers Park. The notion came mid-sleep, which led to her providing nearly 7,000 meals to those in need in 2018 with the help of about 600 volunteers. So, when she passed by a neighborhood little free library box before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the notion that she could help address food insecurity around Chicago in the same manner as the library boxes struck her.

And you guessed it — it happened in the middle of the night.

Nochimowski will dedicate her neighborhood first MommaChef's free little pantry box on Saturday in front of West Ridge Community Methodist Church in Chicago. The idea of tangibly helping others is one that Nochimowski wanted to pass down to her sons and is one that she believes will grow to other locations around Chicago over time.

For liability purposes, the free little pantries won’t allow people to leave food. Instead, the neighborhood box allows anyone who needs it to take non-perishable nutritious food items that can be found inside. Nochimowski's son, Oren, who is high school sophomore and the owner of a new driver's license, is helping with the filling of the box to make sure that food is there when people need it.

The food will include basic nutritious necessities and will be easy to open for those who may be living on the street. The food, which includes peanut butter, canned fish, protein bars and more, will also go to those who are good insecure but have a place to live — just as a way to helping fill the need.

“It’s really an anonymous way for people (in need) to take food,” Nochimowski told Patch in a telephone interview. “…It just kinds of let people walk by, take what they need and keep walking. They don’t need to justify why you need it. It’s really there for people who need it.

She added: “We want to make sure not only is it a pantry full of food, but it’s a pantry full of healthy food and nutritious food.”

The little free pantries come after Nochimowski kept finding ways to serve meals although the coronavirus pandemic forced her to end her Tuesday night in-person soup kitchen for a short time. Instead, she would cook meals at home and relied on donations she received that would show up on her doorstep every Tuesday morning.

She would then deliver the meals to shelters that could pass the nutritious meals onto those who needed them most. In time, she was able to resume the operation where she provided about 95 to-go meals on a given Tuesday night.

But now, she wants to extend her reach.

“The need for food in general is tremendous.” Nochimowski said. "Especially now, COVID took such an economic toll on people and if I can help alleviate that, even in a little way — I mean, this isn't going to cover their food for the month —but if it takes a little bit of the financial pressure off of them or it feeds them for a day or two, I'd be very happy with that.

"It will definitely help me sleep better at night."

According to Feeding America, almost 1.3 million people in Illinois struggle with food insecurity, including 363,000 children. One in every eight kids don’t know where their next meal will come from and people facing hunger need more than $630 million per year to meet their food needs.

The fact the ideas to help others came at odd times can be explained, she said. After watching the news during the day and seeing video images of people waiting in long lines at soup kitchens and food pantries or seeing homeless residents of Chicago struggling to get through the winter, the reality of the need that exists are hard to forget.

Nochimowski feels like it’s human nature to wake up in the middle of the night with your mind racing. But rather than ignore the ideas that come, she decided to take action all in the name of being a good neighbor.

“My mind always goes to, what can I be doing to leave a footprint in this world,” Nochimowski said. “What can I be doing to help others? And honestly, what can I do to instill this in my kids? This is something that needs to be important in their lives – we’re fortunate to have food on the table and so we need to help others with that.

“Usually in the morning, that thought is gone, but when it sticks with you – like the soup kitchen did and the food pantry did – then I know it’s something that I want to get done and I’m the type of person that I don’t stop until it’s done.”

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2021, about 42 million Americans may not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.