Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry will distribute food and household products to women only on Thursday, April 14, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Aurora Public Library Eola Branch, 555 S. Eola Road in Aurora.
Women are invited. Admission and parking are free. Identification and registration are not required.
Food items, diapers, formula, baby food, and feminine hygiene products, are among items to be distributed.
A pop-up pantry open to all will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 7, at Restoration Church, 1460 W. Indian Trail Road in Aurora.
Rebecca Dunnigan, Interfaith outreach and program manager, said Women’s Empowerment Mobile Pantries are planned for the third Thursdays of months this year. The next women-only pantry will be from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, May 19, at Vineyard Aurora Church, 505 E. Galena Boulevard, Aurora.
In April, some distributions may be held in conjunction with Aurora Public Library bookmobile visits to neighborhoods. Details will be announced.
Interfaith added the women’s-only pantry to its popular mobile pantries, launched in January 2021, with a grant from Aurora Women’s Empowerment Foundation. (AWE), an Aurora -based nonprofit, which was formed in 2018 after the Aurora YWCA closed following nearly 125 years of service.
AWE chairperson Amy Bauduin said, “Our mission is to elevate and empower Aurora-area women and future women by making grants to tax-exempt nonprofits engaged in meaningful, measurable, work that helps women over the hurdles of inequity and exclusion, propelling them forward with life-changing programs and services.”
With Pantry staff members and volunteers, a truck and driver loaned by Calvary Church of Naperville, visits locations to distribute Interfaith food, household items, and women’s hygiene products.
Interfaith mobile pantries visit parking lots at churches, schools, libraries, and senior and low-income residences. Mobile-pantry partners with Interfaith are Fox Valley Park District, Calvary Church of Naperville, and Blessings in a Backpack of Chicago.
Interfaith mobile pantries deliver food for 200 families on a first-come basis. Items distributed include granola bars, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, pasta, pasta sauce, eggs, ground beef, cereal, applesauce, apple juice, and box dinners. Additionally, when available, laundry detergent, toilet paper, hand soap, kids’ band aids, hand sanitizer, and school supplies are distributed.
Patrons do not need to leave their vehicles to claim food. Pantry volunteers observe pandemic safety procedures when loading bags of groceries and household items valued at $100 into patrons’ vehicles.
For information, call 630-692-3061, send E-mail to rdunnigan@aurorafoodpantry.org, or visit aurorafoodpantry.org for more information.
—Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry