Our Story
The Irving Park Community Food Pantry provides food and other assistance to those who live in the 60641 or 60618 (west of Kedzie) ZIP codes. We are open every Wednesday morning from 9 am until noon and on the second Tuesday evening of every month from 6:00 pm to 7:30.
In addition to a 3-5 day supply of food our visitors can also receive pet food through our onsite Pet Food Corner, a partnership with the Community Animal Rescue Effort (CARE). Onsite assistance in applying for SNAP benefits is available as are other client resources and referrals.
Special distributions include: Easter baskets, school supplies, winter coats and accessories and Holiday food and toy distributions.
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Romana Puente, member experience supervisor at the Irving Park YMCA, shows off three more bags of coats that were donated to the Pantry's coat drive in the past week. The Y has a decorated dropoff area in its lobby where anyone, member or not, can quickly deliver any new or gently used winter coats for the drive.
The Pantry's program, to provide winter coats to its clients' families in the 60641 and 60618 ZIP codes, begins NEXT WEEK on October 19th. Please make any donations you can as soon as possible. The drive runs through November 16th, with the final dropoff deadline of November 14th.
We also are asking for hats, scarves, mittens and other cold-weather gear. Please do not donate sweaters, sweatshirts, boots or other clothing.
We are happy to provide receipts for all new coats donated for tax deductions and encourage everyone to keep an eye out for good sales on men's, women's and children's coats.
Donations can be dropped off at any of the below participating locations:
# 16th District—Jefferson Park Police Station, 5151 N Milwaukee Ave.
# 17th District—Albany Park Police Station, 4650 N. Pulaski Rd.
# Big Helpers store, 4184 N. Elston Ave. (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday)
# Disney II Magnet School, 3815 N. Kedvale Ave. (Inside Main Entrance, 8:30am-3:30pm)
# Disney II Magnet High School, 3900 Lawndale Ave. (Inside Main Entrance, 8:45am-3:45pm)
# Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N Knox Ave.
# Irving Park YMCA, 4251 W Irving Park Rd. (dropbox in lobby)
# Jet’s Pizza, 3951 N. Kimball Ave., (dropbox in waiting area)
# J.T.’s Genuine Sandwich Shop, 3970 N. Elston Ave. (closed Mondays)
# Old Irving Brewing Company, 4419 W Montrose Ave. (noon to 10 p.m.)
# Perkolator Coffee, 6032 W Irving Park Rd. (during operating hours)
# Front Porch at 3822 N Tripp Ave. (anytime)
If you have a large donation or want to run a drive to gather coats, please email
[email protected] with questions or to arrange delivery.
Thank you for your support of this annual program to help our neighbors this winter!
More than 7,300 pounds of food were included in our order from the Greater Chicago Food Depository today. Volunteers brought it all into the Pantry and parceled it out to the proper stations to begin preparations for our distribution Tuesday night from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon for everyone in the 60641 and 60618 ZIP codes who needs help.
We also received a delivery of 100 loaves of bread from Smoque's supplier, to help with our two distributions this week. We often run low on bread on Wednesday due to the larger numbers of clients now coming during our Tuesday night distribution, and this donation is a big help in meeting those needs. Our Tuesday numbers have more than doubled in recent months, requiring us to buy more food for our busiest week of the month.
We'll continue to receive more deliveries of foods we can't order through GCFD, including more produce, bread and a variety of nonperishables, right up until we open tomorrow night and into Wednesday morning.
If you would like to help us purchase all of the food needed to provide all of our clients with five days' worth of emergency food to make nutritious, well-balanced meals, please make a PayPal donation at
www.irvingparkfoodpantry.org or mail a check to Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., Chicago IL 60618.
Thank you for your continued support of our efforts!
Lisa Hendricks, (our 2022 Volunteer of the Year) shows off some of the prodigious donations of veggies she picked up from participants in the Lincoln Square Farmers Market this week. That group comprised Compean and Sons, Los Rodriguez Farm and Lafevor Farm and Greenhouses.
Additional farms have promised to participate this coming week, as the harvest season winds down. We appreciate all the donations, which help us provide our clients with a wider range of options, especially for bigger families.
Iris Ramos and Eric Garcia from long-time Pantry supporter Oak Street Health set up a booth outside of the Pantry this week. They handed out pamphlets and explained the group’s services for adults on Medicare to Pantry clients and anyone else in the neighborhood who stopped by. They'll be returning on a regular basis.
For more about Oak Street and their Portage Park location, visit
https://www.oakstreethealth.com/locations/chicago-il/portage-park-doctors-office
Iris Ramirez, member engagement supervisor at the Irving Park YMCA, shows off one of several bags of coats already donated by members for the Pantry. She’s with the Y’s Fred Monster, who “eats” Halloween candy it receives for programs.
The donations will be used in our program to provide clients and their families in the 60641 and 60618 ZIP codes with new or gently used winter coats starting in mid-October and continuing until November 16th, our last distribution before Thanksgiving.
In addition to winter coats, we are collecting hats, scarves, mittens and other cold-weather gear. Please do not donate sweaters, sweatshirts, boots or other clothing.
We are happy to provide receipts for all new coats donated for tax deductions and encourage everyone to keep an eye out for good sales on men's, women's and children's coats.
Donations can be taken to any of these participating locations:
# 16th District—Jefferson Park Police Station, 5151 N Milwaukee Ave.
# 17th District—Albany Park Police Station, 4650 N. Pulaski Rd.
# Big Helpers store, 4184 N. Elston Ave. (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday).
# Disney II Magnet School, 3815 N. Kedvale Ave. (Inside Main Entrance, 8:30am-3:30pm)
# Disney II Magnet High School, 3900 Lawndale Ave. (Inside Main Entrance, 8:45am-3:45pm)
# Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N Knox Ave.
# Irving Park YMCA, 4251 W Irving Park Rd. (dropbox in lobby)
# Jet’s Pizza, 3951 N. Kimball Ave., (dropbox in waiting area)
# J.T.’s Genuine Sandwich Shop, 3970 N. Elston Ave. (closed Mondays)
# Old Irving Brewing Company, 4419 W Montrose Ave. (noon to 10 p.m.)
# Perkolator Coffee, 6032 W Irving Park Rd. (during operating hours)
# Front Porch at 3822 N Tripp Ave. (anytime)
If you have a large donation or want to run a drive to gather coats, please email
[email protected] with questions or to arrange delivery.
Thank you for your support of this annual program to help our neighbors this winter!
Pantry volunteers kept busy on Wednesday morning, providing groceries to 333 people in 105 families, one of our busiest days in some time. It was the first week of a new calendar month, which often is the busiest week, but this marked a big jump for any week in many months.
A few people were still in line when we closed at noon, but we stayed open to ensure they all received food. Supplies held out, as we had expected to have a large number coming in. The count included 16 new families, and we were happy to explain how we work and provide them with food.
Thank you to all our volunteers who worked so hard to keep everything moving smoothly and stayed late to ensure everyone received food to keep their families fed this month. We expect our total to continue to grow as the weather turns cold and more income must go to heating and other needs.
Congratulations to Lisa Hendricks, who was named the Pantry's 2022 Volunteer of the Year! Lisa not only volunteers at the Pantry every week but coordinates harvesting our herb garden and makes regular pickups at pet stores for our Pet Food Corner and at the Lincoln Square Farmers Market to pick up produce from a number of vendors who donate to us.
We appreciate all her hard work and ready smiles each week and the effort she puts in all week long!
Certificates of Appreciation also went to Lynne Anderson, who coordinates our registration and runs demographic information each week to help us understand our clients' needs better; Laura Barnes, who works tirelessly to load clients' groceries each week and pitches in on many activities around the Pantry; and Kathy O'Neill, who works with outside organizations, including aldermen's offices and community groups on our behalf. We thank them for their dedication to our clients!
The awards were announced at the Pantry's Volunteer Lunch, which was held in the Pantry's delivery area this past Saturday. It was catered by Coco's Tacos truck from Aurora, with beautiful weather to allow volunteers to mingle and enjoy the day.
We appreciate all of our volunteers' hard work throughout the week to keep us moving forward and handling the challenges thrown at us through the year. They are the key to our ability to being "Neighbors Helping Neighbors!"
Tracy Fletcher, who is coordinating the coat drive for the Pantry at the Disney II schools, dropped off the first batch of donated coats this weekend. That gets us off to a good start! We've also heard from some of our other partners that they're getting in enough coats to make a run to bring them in.
We appreciate every donation to our annual coat drive, which aims to provide clients and their families in the 60641 and 60618 ZIP codes with new or gently used winter coats.
We are collecting coats now and will begin giving them out on October 19th and continue until November 16th, our last distribution before Thanksgiving.
We are asking for winter coats, along with hats, scarves, mittens and other cold-weather gear. Please do not donate sweaters, sweatshirts, boots or other clothing.
We are happy to provide receipts for all new coats donated for tax deductions and encourage everyone to keep an eye out for good sales on men's, women's and children's coats.
Donations can be taken to any of these participating groups:
# 16th District—Jefferson Park Police Station, 5151 N Milwaukee Ave.
# 17th District—Albany Park Police Station, 4650 N. Pulaski Rd.
# Big Helpers store, 4184 N. Elston Ave. (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday).
# Disney II Magnet School, 3815 N. Kedvale Ave. (Inside Main Entrance, 8:30am-3:30pm)
# Disney II Magnet High School, 3900 Lawndale Ave. (Inside Main Entrance, 8:45am-3:45pm)
# Irving Park YMCA, 4251 W Irving Park Rd. (dropbox in lobby)
# Jet’s Pizza, 3951 N. Kimball Ave., (dropbox in waiting area)
# J.T.’s Genuine Sandwich Shop, 3970 N. Elston Ave. (closed Mondays)
# Old Irving Brewing Company, 4419 W Montrose Ave. (noon to 10 p.m.)
# Perkolator Coffee, 6032 W Irving Park Rd. (during operating hours)
# Front Porch at 3822 N Tripp Ave. (anytime)
If you have a large donation or want to run a drive to gather coats, please email
[email protected] with questions or to arrange delivery.
Thank you for your support of this annual program to help our neighbors this winter!
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