Get A Tax Deduction In Patch Holiday Food Drive In Will County

WILL COUNTY, IL — The cumulative effect of 39 weeks of historic joblessness and business failures because of the coronavirus pandemic is as plain as the bare cupboards in millions of kitchens across America: As many as 50 million people, including about 75,000 people in Will County, don’t have enough to eat.

You can help by giving to Feeding America in Patch’s Holiday Food Drive.

Contributions are tax-deductible, so if you give now, you’ll be able to include your donation in your 2020 tax return.

The food drive runs through Dec. 31. For every $1 you give, Feeding America is able to supply 10 meals.

Many of the families experiencing food insecurity don’t qualify for federal nutrition programs, and they need to rely on their food banks and other hunger relief organizations to have enough to eat, according to Feeding America.

Patch and Feeding America teamed last summer to address the growing hunger crisis in America, connecting readers with the organization’s 200 member food banks that serve 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, and providing an easy way to donate money to help their neighbors.

Some of the places in Will County that will benefit are:

Northern Illinois Food Bank273 Dearborn Court, Geneva — 630-443-6910

Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry834 N. Highland Ave., Aurora — 630-897-5431

Fox Valley Hispanic SDA Pantry505 E. New York St., Aurora — 630-898-0410

Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry1110 Jericho Road, Aurora — 630-897-2127

Food for Greater Elgin1553 Commerce Dr., Elgin — 847-931-9330

Between Friends Food Pantry52 Wheeler Road, Sugar Grove — 630-991-3138

Holy Angels Pantry204 S. Russell Ave., Aurora — 630-897-2478

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Soup Kettle330 S. Griswold, Elgin — 847-888-2882

Community Crisis Center37 S. Geneva St., Elgin — 847-697-2380

All Peoples Interfaith Food Pantry256 E. Chicago St., Elgin — 847-741-2329

Salvation Army - Aurora437 E. Galena Boulevard, Aurora — 630-897-7265

Salvation Army - St. Charles1710 S. 7th Ave., St. Charles — 630-377-2769

St. Peter Food Pantry1891 Kaneville Road, Geneva — 630-232-0124

Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry100 Flinn St., Batavia — 630-879-3784

Shepherd's Heart Food Pantry2300 South St., Geneva — 630-232-7068

South Elgin Food Pantry400 W. Spring St., South Elgin — 847-931-0563

Two Rivers Head Start Aurora1661 Landmark Road, Aurora — 630-264-1444

Feeding America predicted last summer that 50 million people, including 17 million children, could face hunger by year’s end because of the pandemic.

To put that into perspective, about 35 million people in the United States struggled with hunger in 2019, according to the latest report on household food insecurity by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Households with children are the most vulnerable to food insecurity. Before the pandemic, more than 10 million children lived in food-insecure households.

Feeding America projects the food insecurity rate in Will County will rise to 10.8 percent in 2020, up from 6.1 percent in 2018.

Julie Yurko, CEO of Northern Illinois Food Bank, said since the start of the pandemic, the need for food assistance has grown by nearly 50 percent each month across the 13 suburban and rural areas it serves.

"During our fiscal year ending in June, we distributed more than 80 million meals, a 16 percent increase from the prior year and the equivalent of nearly 300,000 meals daily. The statistics are alarming, 1 in 9 people and 1 in 6 children in Northern Illinois are facing hunger," she said. "Many are experiencing reduced work hours, furloughs, layoffs, and/or illness due to COVID-19 and flu season."

Northern Illinois Food Bank recently estimated that over 60 percent of neighbors in the area may be food insecure. In the months ahead, Yurko and her team expect food insecurity to continue to grow at record rates. Winter brings difficult trade-offs as families choose between paying bills, like heat or buying groceries. To underscore the magnitude of the pandemic’s impact, 30- 50 percent of neighbors they serve have never needed to ask for help before.

“During this holiday season, especially as the uncertainty of this pandemic continues, we all must come together to help one another. As more families come to us for help, Northern Illinois Food Bank is committed to providing as much nutritious food as possible because we believe in full pantries, full refrigerators and full bellies, for every person, every day," Yurko said. "When someone chooses to invest $1 in our work, we can provide $8 worth of groceries for our neighbors. Every day we see people coming together because they care deeply and want to help, volunteering at the food bank or one of feeding sites, making a financial investment in our work, or sharing the sad reality that hunger is here in Northern Illinois. We hope people will choose to get involved because we know that, together, we can solve hunger."

Feeding America says that 80 percent of its food banks — or 4 in 5 — are serving more people than they were at the same time last year. With the pandemic worsening during the holiday season, many people who never before worried about how they’d pay for a holiday meal are turning to food banks for the first time.

From the beginning of the pandemic in March, Feeding America distributed 4.2 billion meals — enough to provide every U.S. resident with breakfast, lunch and dinner for just over four days.

In the first four months of the pandemic, 4 in 10 people were first-time visitors to food banks, according to Feeding America.

How To Support The Patch Holiday Food Drive

Patch has teamed 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 2020, more than 50 million Americans will 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.