DuPage County allocates nearly $1M in ARPA funds to local food pantries

Tuesday, the DuPage County Board unanimously approved the allocation of $910,673 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief funds, to improve the infrastructure of 16 local food pantries.
In August, the board established the Local Food Pantry Infrastructure Investment Program as a means of relaying ARPA money to pantries, money to afford fresh meats, produce, and other goods, and money to improve where the food is stored.
“These targeted investments will make it easier to get fresh food to the neediest residents in our County quickly, provide important resources to local pantries and strengthen our food distribution network for decades to come,” Human Services Committee Chair and county board member Greg Schwarze said in a news release Tuesday.
Not all of the money was split evenly amongst the 16 pantries, as needs for funds vary; the largest recipient, People’s Resource Center, operating in Wheaton and Westmont on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, was allocated $145,565 by the County.
Lisle Township, whose Supervisor Diane Hewitt, in an August interview with the Doings, spoke about their pantry’s drastic need, was allocated $108,491.
“Food insecurity is hidden in our rich suburbs, so they don’t realize how pervasive it can be for such a population,” Hewitt said. “It’s easy to see poverty being hidden in the suburbs.”
The county is requiring proof from pantries that the money is spent on vehicles, capital equipment, and technology that improve their existing infrastructure.
“It’s a reimbursement, so no check is going to go out until they submit an invoice so we can pay them,” county board member Elizabeth Chaplain said during Tuesday’s board meeting.
Funds may also be used for data collection, reporting, or for issuing payments, county officials said in a news release.
Loaves & Fishes Community Services, one of the largest non-profit pantries in the region, and the People’s Resource Center were recipients of another round of grants back in July for more direct food insecurity relief.
One in five people in DuPage, Will, Kane, and Kendall County, where Loaves and Fishes operates, are either below the poverty line or below the low-income line, Mike Havala, President & CEO of Loaves and Fishes, said in a July interview with the Doings.
“When you’re working with perishable food, the faster you can get it from it arriving on your dock to the clients’ hands the better,” Havala said.