Staff at Nourishing Hope food pantry started building holiday boxes last month.
Stacks of stuffing mix, canned vegetables and other Thanksgiving trimmings were piled high at the organization’s headquarters in West Town. The boxes will go out to an estimated 10,000 households, and they’re expected to go fast.
Nourishing Hope CEO Mitzi Baum said the nonprofit is prepared this year to spend double its annual budget, largely due to unusually high holiday demand and unexpected funding cuts.
Chicago’s food pantries have struggled due to federal and state funding cuts earlier this year. And President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement in Chicago has caused pantries to see an influx of people. That’s because many have been staying off the streets and missing work out of fear of running into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
There was also the recent turmoil facing recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid because of the federal government shutdown. Now that the shutdown is over, SNAP recipients are expected to see their full benefits starting Friday. Illinois has 1.8 million people who receive the benefits at an average of $370 a month, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
The squeeze of financial and economic pressures on pantries like Nourishing Hope and the people it serves have created extra anxiety ahead of Thanksgiving, which typically marks the start of the holiday season.
It’s created “an unprecedented era where the need is greater than ever before,” Salvation Army Chicago area commander Major Caleb Senn said.
In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut $500 million in funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which purchases food to send to emergency food providers. This means the Greater Chicago Food Depository has less food to supply pantries like Nourishing Hope, which receives 80% of its food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Baum said the federal cuts have sliced Nourishing Hope’s supply from the depository by 13%. Separately, state funding to the organization this year was reduced from $500,000 to $100,000.
Meanwhile, Chicago area food pantries have recently seen an increase in demand.
“There are a lot of factors like rising grocery prices,” Baum said. “A lot of people are being laid off … especially the federal workforce that has been let go or furloughed. And folks that are finding work, but at the hourly rate that they’re being paid, they just can’t make ends meet.”
Grocery prices have been rising for the past year, with some items like coffee and baby diapers increasing faster than others. And a number of big firms from Starbucks to Capital One have announced massive layoffs, affecting cities like Chicago.
The state’s unemployment rate has slowly declined over the last year — at 4.4% in August, compared to 5% for the same month last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government shutdown has delayed the release of September and October’s unemployment figures. It’s a stark contrast from the pandemic when the state’s unemployment rate hit 18.3% in April 2020, higher than the national rate of 14.8% for the same period.
Baum said the pandemic was another stressful time for food pantries. Many low-income families faced layoffs that made affording food difficult.
The Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago that started in September, has added to the demand seen by food banks and pantries, Baum said.
“We have seen a lot of increased request for food from those families that just simply can’t get out,” she said. “If they’re not leaving their homes, they’re not going to work. So they’re not generating any income, and they need food assistance.”
Nourishing Hope distributes food at El Cercadito in Humboldt Park, Sheridan Market in Lake View and the Hub in Uptown. It also provides home delivery for those unable to leave their home, as well as an online market.
The Salvation Army has 17 food pantry locations around the Chicago area, providing boxes that may include shelf-stable pantry items, breads, cereals, meat and other necessities.
Senn said demand for its pantry services has more than doubled in some communities. The organization never turns anyone away, he said.
“Our budget is pushed to its limits at this point in order to completely serve, especially with a gap in both SNAP funding and other areas of support. … So that plea for public financial support is so incredibly important,” he said. “We have so many traditions built around food as Americans that it’s very important for us that everyone has that equal opportunity to experience that security.”
So far in 2025, Nourishing Hope has given about 5 million pounds of food. In the last two weeks, it said demand jumped 25%. The food pantry distributed 6 million pounds of food in 2024.
Baum said the organization hopes to expand its distribution for Thanksgiving and give over 600,000 pounds of food. But the organization is over budget because the cost for some holiday items has increased, like turkey, ham and chicken. The pantry has been particularly low on snacks and bread recently.
Baum originally budgeted $408,000 for food this year. However, due to the reduced supply stemming from federal cuts and the surging need among Chicagoans, she anticipates spending more than twice that amount, or nearly $1 million, to provide “a consistent experience” throughout their distribution programs, Baum said.
“We want to provide that meal during the holidays that brings everybody around and provides them the comfort food and to celebrate the holiday as they should — with pride, with dignity and with the foods that help them feel good and be with each other and celebrate,” Baum said.