The freezer doors at Elsie’s Pantry in Palos Hills swing open to reveal what’s left: a few plastic bags in a cardboard box and a lot of empty metal shelves.
“This month we’re more limited than ever,” said director Beth Heinrich, standing beside the open cooler. “We’re not even getting the turkeys. They ran out. We were given 32 turkey breasts, and that’s it. Last year, we had enough for everyone.”
The pantry, located inside Savior Divine Lutheran Church, usually serves about 130 families. But supplies have dropped across the board, and Heinrich said their USDA shipments are already down about a thousand pounds from earlier this year.
“All our meat freezers are empty,” she said. “We have enough for maybe 40 people right now. We used to give more than one piece of meat per family, but we’ve had to cut back.”
Nov. 1 marked the first day Illinois families began losing their federal food assistance. The Trump administration’s decision to halt Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits leaves nearly 2 million Illinois residents without help to buy groceries. It is the first time in the program’s 60-year history that benefits have been completely stopped.
The Trump administration said Monday it would use emergency funds to partially fund SNAP benefits for November but would not tap into other funds to provide full coverage.
The means the more than one in six Illinoisans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits to buy groceries each month will get a smaller-than-normal share and have to wait days or weeks for their cards to be reloaded.
Two federal judges issued separate rulings Friday, both ordering the administration to continue funding SNAP amid the federal government shutdown. Both judges set a Monday deadline for the administration to decide whether it would provide full or partial coverage and determine where the money would come from.
The judges required that the government use emergency funds appropriated by Congress to at least partially cover November benefits, leaving open the option to draw from additional funding sources to fully fund payments for the month. U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. in his order cited the availability of $23 billion in funds created by Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act amendments of 1935.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture told the judges Monday that it would use $4.65 billion in emergency funds to cover half of the benefits eligible households receive for the month.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth responded with disappointment to the partial funding decision on social media, referencing her own family’s experience with SNAP.
“As someone who grew up counting every last SNAP dollar, this is intentionally cruel,” Duckworth wrote. “Hungry children deserve full bellies. Not crumbs.”
IDHS said it expected November SNAP benefits to be delayed by days or weeks. It added the decision to fund reduced benefits “will make it significantly more complicated for states to issue the funds.”
Benefits left on cards from previous months can still be used to purchase food as usual, according to IDHS.
Governor J.B. Pritzker responded to the impending suspension of benefits on Oct. 30 by signing an executive order that sends $20 million in emergency funding to state food banks and calls for a statewide plan to address the fallout. He said Illinois will do what it can to fill the gap, but the scale of the loss is staggering.
“The federal government wants to let millions of Americans go hungry,” Pritzker said. “Illinois families, kids, seniors, and people with disabilities will now go without food benefits because of political games in Washington.”
Demand keeps climbing in La Grange
At the St. Cletus Food Pantry in La Grange, director Kendall Grant said she was bracing for another spike in demand. Her pantry serves 18 southwest suburban communities and has already surpassed pandemic numbers.
“November and December are always our busiest months,” Grant said after a recent roundtable with U.S. Rep. Sean Casten. “We don’t want to be in the business of exponential growth in this industry. But every week, every month, every year, we continue to grow, and more of our neighbors are having trouble paying for rent, utilities, and groceries.”
Grant said they are looking for more volunteers, funding, and food donations, but even with that, the pantry may have to start limiting what each family receives.
Across the region, the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which supports 13 counties and 575,000 people a month, expects the same. Chief philanthropy officer Colleen Ahearn said residents can visit solvehungertoday.com to find the nearest pantry.
“People are already feeling the angst,” Ahearn said. “We’re doing prep work now to meet the growing need.”
South suburban pantry tries to keep up
In Chicago Heights, Respond Now’s pantry has spent the past year working through construction and relocation.
Pantry manager Stephanie Hobson said their main site at 1439 Emerald Avenue has been under renovation, forcing them to operate out of different spaces, including the Bethel Family Resource Center. They moved out again in early October when Bethel needed the gym back.
“It’s been topsy turvy,” Hobson said. “Just as the community caught up to where we were, we had to move again. Now the SNAP changes are hitting on top of that.”
While the Chicago Heights site remains closed, Respond Now is running a smaller satellite pantry in Sauk Village. That site was designed to serve only local residents once a week, but lately they have been seeing new faces from across the south suburbs.
“We’re seeing a lot of one-time visitors who are desperate,” Hobson said. “We help them once, then use the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s website to show them where else they can go that week. People are grateful just to know they have options.”
Because space is limited, Respond Now can’t take large food donations right now. Hobson said monetary donations are most useful, and that they are still planning a Thanksgiving food giveaway later this month.
In Palos Hills, giving what they can
To stretch what little they have, Heinrich said Elsie’s Pantry had to move to an every-other-week pickup schedule. Before, families could come weekly, a system they’d kept since the pandemic.
They also switched to a “client choice” setup, where people pick their own groceries. It takes more time and volunteers, but Heinrich said it gives families a little dignity and control over what they take home.
“We’ll never turn anyone away. I don’t care where they live,” she said. “If we can’t help someone that week, we’ll get on the computer and help them find another pantry nearby.”
This month, though, the pantry is struggling more than usual. “We’re not even getting the turkeys,” Heinrich said. “They ran out. We were given turkey breasts, but only enough for 32 families.” In past years, they had enough full turkeys for everyone they served — sometimes even extras. Now, she said, they might have to spend around $500 out of pocket to buy more.
All of the pantry’s meat freezers are nearly empty. “We have enough for maybe 40 people,” Heinrich said. “We usually give them more than one piece, but we’ve had to cut back.”
Despite that, she said the community has continued to show up. Schools and the Chamber of Commerce still hold drives, bringing in cans and dry goods that fill their outdoor bins to the top. “We’re so thankful for that,” Heinrich said.
When asked what would help most, she didn’t hesitate. “Food donations,” she said. “And money, especially if I have to buy turkeys this year.”
A restaurant steps in to help
While many organizations are strategizing to fill the gap, one local restaurant decided to act fast.
Starting Nov. 1, Wooden Paddle, a wood-fired pizzeria with locations in Lemont and La Grange, is offering free lunches all month to anyone who shows proof of SNAP benefits. The meals are available for carryout from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily through November.
Front-of-house staffer Rosie Villavicencio said the idea came straight from owners John and Bree.
“People came in just to support us because they saw the post,” Villavicencio said. “It’s times like this when you really see who steps up for the community.”
Their creative marketing lead, Tris Wang, said the goal is simple: feed people who need help and let others pitch in.
“We just don’t like seeing people struggle,” Wang said. “We have such an amazing community here, and we want to do our part to support it. Food shouldn’t be a luxury. We can feed people, and we’re happy to feed them.”
Wooden Paddle added a donation link on its website so customers can help fund the program.
Grocery chains try to keep meals affordable
Even as food banks and restaurants try to fill the gap, grocery chains are also stepping in. ALDI announced a “Feast for 10 for $40” promotion, offering shoppers a full Thanksgiving spread for about four dollars per person.
The company said the goal is to help families set a full table without stretching their budget. The deal includes a whole turkey, green beans, stuffing mix, rolls, pie crusts, and other staples, an effort to keep holiday meals within reach for families already hit by the SNAP cutoff.
What comes next
Pritzker’s executive order directs state agencies to work with grocers and food banks, collect new data on hunger, and hold listening sessions across Illinois. It also sends $20 million in emergency funding to the state’s seven major food banks, which together support more than 2,600 pantries.
The governor called it a “statewide strategy to protect access to food,” but local leaders know they will be carrying the weight.
“We’re all preparing for what comes next,” Heinrich said. “It’s hard to know how bad it’ll get until it happens. We just hope the community keeps showing up, because right now that’s what’s keeping people fed.”
Jeff Vorva and Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.