Washington School staff were trying to figure out how to keep needy students from going hungry during the upcoming two-week holiday break. Then, as if an answer to a Christmas wish, a group offered help.
Oak Forest-based VKMI Hattie B. Williams Food Pantry plans to provide food bags with breakfast and lunch items to assist needy families at the Riverdale school during the break.
“I was enthused with their timing,” Leah Gusman, elementary school social worker at Washington, said.
Overall, the pantry is assisting students at nine south suburban schools this holiday season, said retiree Annie Hill, who runs the pantry.
“Our goal is to distribute (food) to at least 120 families that rely on breakfast and lunch at the schools,” she said. The families were pre-selected by the schools.
Like Washington, many low-income students receive government-funded breakfast and lunch each day they are in class, but are at risk of hunger when school is out.
The pantry is part of Valley Kingdom Ministries International Church in Oak Forest. Church members help out by donating cereal, snack bars, lunchables, soup, fruit snacks and other items.
The pantry will deliver the food to the schools this week so needy families can bring the items home. Parents are encouraged to visit the pantry if they need additional assistance.
The pantry, which is a partner of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, has assisted more than 7,800 individuals in the south suburbs this year, Hill said.
Hill’s sister, Hattie B. Williams, launched the pantry 25 years ago in South Holland.
The pantry, which assists needy residents throughout south suburban Cook County, relocated to Oak Forest last month, said Hill, whose pastor asked her to assume leadership of the pantry in 2014 after Williams died suddenly. Hill had previously helped her sister with the pantry.
Under Hill’s leadership, the pantry expanded to focus on advocacy and provide assistance with applications for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, more commonly known as SNAP.
Hill said the pantry has a goal of opening a site in Robbins next year.
She credited dedicated volunteers with helping the pantry serve others.
“When Hattie was here, she had maybe four to five faithful people who volunteered,” Hill said. “After she passed, many people came forward and wanted to volunteer because of the impact she had in their lives. She was a giver. We now have probably 20 people who regularly volunteer.”
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Hill, who retired as a quality analyst in the insurance industry in 2010, said she never imagined she’d one day be running a food pantry. But she said she finds her work at the pantry very rewarding.
“We see a lot of seniors,” Hill said. “They are on fixed incomes. We are like that filler for them. We also see a lot of families. They are working, but it’s hard to meet all of the obligations and still provide food.”
Despite the continuing improvement in the economy, hunger remains a major problem. Each year, the Greater Chicago Food Depository serves more than 812,000 individuals in Cook County.
“One in every six people in our community are turning to the Chicago Food Depository’s network of partners at some point during the year,” spokesman Paul Morello said.
“In 2008 and 2009 when the Great Recession hit, we saw a tremendous spike in the level of need,” Morello said. “Since then, while we haven’t seen an increase, we’ve been pretty steady right around that recession level of need. We are serving significantly more people now than we were pre-Recession.
While hunger is a year-round problem, people can feel it more acutely during the holidays, he noted.
The pantry operates from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. every Friday except the fifth Friday of the month.
If you’re in need of help or if you would like to donate food, money or your time to combat hunger during the holidays and throughout the year, visit www.chicagofoodbank.org.