Rich Township’s public food pantry has struggled to keep ahead of a surge in demand driven by multiple factors, including tightened requirements on federal food aid and the aftermath of multiple damaging storms in the south suburbs.
“We’ve had a major increase, especially with what has happened in the Southland, with regards to the tornadoes and the storms, and then, of course, with people’s loss of power,” Rich Township Supervisor Calvin Jordan said. “That has really been impactful.”
Widespread, dayslong power outages following the summer’s major storms caused people across the south and southwest suburbs to lose what food they had in their fridges, leading to an increased need for food assistance. Some people who received food from the pantry lost it in the outages, Jordan said.
“When we had the tornado and all that stuff, people lost out a lot,” Jordan said. “It just spoiled.”
The storm aftermath compounded issues for people already suffering from increases in the cost of living, Jordan said.
“Several people have said, ‘The only time I move my car is to come here to get some food and go back in. I just can’t afford the price of gasoline,'” Jordan said. “And it’s tough.”
Another factor is increased limitations on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. New work requirements for SNAP imposed earlier this year by the federal government “disproportionately impact working families, immigrants, and individuals already navigating rising costs of living,” Cook County said on its website.
Most people between ages 18-64 without dependents under 14 now have to work or volunteer for at least 80 hours a month in order to maintain their benefits, according to the county. Most noncitizens who were previously able to receive benefits, including refugees and asylum seekers, are no longer eligible, the county said.
“I’ve just seen the numbers increase in a rapid way,” Jordan said. “When they get through paying for the rent or mortgage, they don’t have extra money for the rising cost of food. They just don’t.”
One issue, Jordan said, is that the widespread increase in need means that some smaller pantries no longer have the ability to meet demand, and larger pantries like Rich Township that might have previously helped support them no longer have the capacity.
“A couple of those pantries, they don’t even really have anything,” Jordan said. “I pretty much know that they have really been wiped out.”
More Top Picks How To Handle Homework Meltdowns Without Yelling
A report released Monday by the Greater Chicago Food Depository pointed to a worsening hunger crisis throughout the city and its surrounding areas, with one in three Chicago families deemed food-insecure.
“If this isn’t a wake-up call for the future of our city and our country, I don’t know what is,” said Kate Maehr, chief executive officer of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
The Rich Township Pantry served 8,894 clients from April through July 2026, the township said in a news release. Jordan estimated the pantry can easily see 600 to 700 visitors in a week.
“You’d be surprised at the number of people that come weekly, but they come religiously,” Jordan said. “I mean, they’re there early.”
The pantry distributes food from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesdays and from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 22013 Governors Highway in Richton Park, according to the township’s website.
It’s not uncommon for people to arrive once they get off work and after the pantry is closed for the day looking for food, Jordan said, or for people to come early but have to leave for work before they can get in.
The customers who come to the pantry represent a wide variety of demographics, Jordan said.
“It’s kind of like Cook County hospital,” Jordan said. “People are hurting all over. It’s not one group.”
In the past, the pantry solicited donations around Thanksgiving and Christmas to be able to meet the increased need at those times, Jordan said, but is now in a situation where it has to ask for money continuously.
“I don’t want to turn my back against people that really need help,” Jordan said. “If we don’t help these people, who will help them?”