In The News:
North Center’s Common Pantry Provides Free Nutritional Education Amid Increased Demand
Block Club Chicago
By: Alex V. Hernandez
The nonprofit’s commercial kitchen and communal dining room double as a classroom for its clients to learn the nutritional science behind their favorite meals.
Common Pantry’s recently expanded nutrition program is helping people learn more about healthy eating while providing hot meals ready to go.
The nonprofit food pantry has offered assistance to North Siders experiencing hunger and food insecurity since 1967. In 2021, it bought a commercial building at 3900-10 N. Lincoln Ave. for $1.5 million with the help of state grants to expand its work.
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Recent recalls raise concerns about food safety, but experts credit better regulation and technology
Chicago Tribune
By: Vivian La
October 17, 2024
Chicago Heights resident Stephanie Petersen was concerned by how many food recalls she saw daily on the Food and Drug Administration website.
“There was, like, (multiple) recalls every single day. And a lot of salmonella, listeria, a lot of different things,” Petersen said. “I was like, what is going on? It’s so many.”
Petersen, an occupational therapy student who posts regularly on social media about health, started creating TikTok videos in August where she updates followers on the latest recalls. She includes information like dates, severity, screenshots from the FDA website and news sources.
“I’m just doing it to help and keep everybody safe,” Petersen said. “All I say is just, you know, stay on top of the recalls.”
Lunchbreak: Chicken Tinga Tostadas
WGN
Common Pantry Opens $1.5 Million North Center Home To Serve Neighbors In Need
Block Club Chicago
By: Alex V. Hernandez
The pantry offers emergency groceries, monthly fresh produce distribution, weekly hot meals and senior home delivery.
NORTH CENTER — Common Pantry’s new North Center headquarters opened to the public Thursday.
The nonprofit food pantry bought the one-story commercial building at 3900-10 N. Lincoln Ave. for $1.5 million in 2021 with the help of state grants. The new facility will help the pantry serve more neighbors in need, officials said.
The nonprofit’s leaders worked with Wheeler Kearns Architects to design the headquarters and construction began earlier this year.
The new facility features a large community and dining space, a commercial kitchen that will be used for a hot lunch program and a grocery shopping area, said Common Pantry Executive Director Margaret O’Conor.
“When we purchased the building, we asked our guests what was most important to them. They told us they wanted a place to shop on their own, with their own grocery carts, a cool space in the summer and warm place in the winter,” O’Conor said.
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Poverty Rates Soared in 2022 as Aid ended and Prices Rose
The New York Times
Common Pantry set to open first location in 56 years, hope to continue feeding community
WGN
By: Christine Flores, Peter Curi
CHICAGO — For the first time in their history, Common Pantry now have a place that’s completely their own 56 years after doors opened for business.
Most recently, Common Pantry had been operating out of the basement of Epiphany United Church of Christ which is located just a few blocks away in a 1,500 square foot space.
In 2021, with the help of state grants, the pantry purchased the north Lincoln building increasing their square footage to 3,500.
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Common Pantry opens first stand-alone location in its 56-year history of helping the hungry
Chicago Sun Times
The new location in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood comes at a time when the food pantry is serving record levels of people in need.
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Common Pantry Chicago opens new food bank facility in North Center
ABC 7
BY LEAH HOPE, Thursday, September 14, 2023 5:10PM
CHICAGO (WLS) — Common Pantry, which uses a market model to serve people struggling with food insecurity, opened a new facility in North Center Thursday.
“I’m so happy for them,” said Rosie Cruz, who uses Common Pantry to get food for her family. “The church was nice ad everything but this, this is like a lottery.”
The 56-year-old organization held a grand opening for their new facility on Lincoln Avenue. Executive Director Margaret O’Connor said they created the space with state grants, contributions from the community, and input from guests.
“They can walk in, there are stairs, they talked about having a light filled room there is lots of natural light,” she said.
What Common Pantry could not have anticipated was the skyrocketing need for their services.
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Common Pantry opens its first standalone location in 56-year history
NBC News Chicago
By Kaitlin Washburn •
Common Pantry, Chicago’s oldest continuous food pantry, has opened its first standalone location in the organization’s 56-year history.
The new facility in the North Center neighborhood at 3908 N. Lincoln Ave. continues Common Pantry’s efforts to provide emergency food and social services to Chicago’s North Side.
“This celebration not only marks the milestone of opening this new building and our ability to provide more services more efficiently, but it is a celebration of the community that helped make this dream a reality,” said Margaret O’Conor, executive director of Common Pantry.
The grand opening of the pantry is Thursday, though Common Pantry has been assisting people in the new location since Aug. 2 after leaving the old location on Aug. 1.
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Common Pantry opens its doors to new facility in North Center
CBS News Chicago
The nonprofit food pantry purchased the building in 2021, with the help of $1.5 million in state grants. It originally got its start inside Epiphany United Church of Christ in 1988.SEPT 14, 2023
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/video/common-pantry-opens-its-doors-to-new-facility-in-north-center/
Common Pantry celebrating grand opening at new North Center facility
CBS News Chicago
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/common-pantry-north-center/
Nonprofit hosting block party celebration of new facility in North Center
CBS News Chicago
BY JERAMIE BIZZLE, AIDA MOGOS – A local food pantry that’s helped feed Chicagoans for decades is closer to opening its new space in North Center. Common Pantry began
construction at its new facility, located at 3908 N. Lincoln Ave, back in January.
The organization moved from a church basement to its own space with the help of $1.5 million in state grants. To celebrate, they’re hosting a block party this weekend.
The event will take place Saturday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Martyrs’, located at 3855 N. Lincoln Ave. It will feature live performances from Things That Fly, Divine Sound, and DJ Tanja Buhler.
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The end of a COVID benefit as March begins has food pantries bracing
Crain’s Chicago Business
By BRANDON DUPRÉ
With additional COVID-19 pandemic SNAP benefits set to expire tomorrow, Chicago food pantries are preparing for an increased demand that has the industry worried about how it will keep pace. “Come March, there’s going to be so much added strain and pressure on all these small food pantries across the city,” said Margaret O’Conor, executive director of Common Pantry, a North Center nonprofit that serves Chicago’s North Side. “How do you tell people that you don’t have the food? How do you turn people away?”
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Common Pantry: Healthy food & support for a strong community
WGN NEWS
By Amy Rutledge, Tonya Francisco
North Side food pantry moving to new space to meet growing need
WGN NEWS
By Gaynor Hall, Andrew Smith
CHICAGO — A North Side food pantry that has been providing emergency food and resources for decades is getting ready to expand in a new space. Common Pantry, founded in 1967, has been operating from the basement of the Epiphany Church in North Center for most of that time. “Common Pantry is the oldest continually operating food pantry in the City of Chicago,” executive director Margaret O’Conor said.
They are helping neighbors in a fight against hunger and food insecurity. “Sometimes what happens is food ends up being the thing that people can’t source and that’s where we come into play,” O’Conor said. O’Conor said the needs has risen sharply.
“It’s dramatic,” O’Conor said. “It’s just dramatic.”
Before the pandemic, the pantry served about 300 families a month. Now, O’Conor said, they are serving more than 600 families a month. Families are also dealing with the impact of rising food costs and the COVID-related increase in SNAP benefits is set to expire at the end of this month.
To help meet the growing needs, Common Pantry is on the move. Earlier this year, the pantry started renovations on its new building just a few blocks away in the 3900 block of Lincoln Avenue.
“We want to make sure we are providing a welcoming environment that’s accessible to everybody,” O’Conor said.
In addition to accessibility, the new space will have a large dining room, a commerical grade kitchen, an outdoor area and a room for volunteers who power the pantry’s operation. It’s an essential service to provide free food and connections to resources for families struggling to make ends meet.
The new space should be up and running by the summer.
Common Pantry is always looking for volunteers and donations.
I Am Your Neighbor
Comcast Newsmakers
The pandemic has driven up rates of food insecurity. The vulnerable senior home delivery has doubled to over 100 deliveries monthly. Common Pantry is ensuring safety for staff and clients and raising funds through their new program I Am Your Neighbor.
