Food pantries, farm markets and distributors across the region are using a recent round of state grants to expand outreach, reduce food waste and feed a growing local food ecosystem.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture recently distributed $3.5 million in grants to 61 organizations across 35 counties, including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, McHenry, Stephenson and Will counties.
Outside of Cook County, Kane and Union counties received the most grant money to fight food insecurity.
Among the beneficiaries is Food for Greater Elgin Inc., the largest food pantry in Kane County. The organization served 150,000 patrons in fiscal 2025 and is on a similar track for 2026, data provided by the nonprofit shows.
“We focus very hard on our core competence,” Andres Diez, CEO of Food for Greater Elgin, said. “We bring in food, and we get food out to people who need food, and it is so critical that we have the right equipment.”
Organizations expand to match increased need
Food for Greater Elgin and DuPage County-based Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, the largest food pantry in the state, used the grant money to expand their cold storage to meet a growing need for services, representatives from both organizations said.
Food for Greater Elgin received $73,041 from the state’s grant program. The food bank used the money to purchase a refrigerated truck and update a van to keep refrigerated and frozen foods cool throughout the delivery process.
The nonprofit uses the vehicles to pick up food from grocery stores to stock its food pantry each morning and to deliver boxes of food to schools, senior centers and low-income areas.
Diez said the food bank began noticing an uptick in people requesting food deliveries about a year ago, around the time that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers began increasing enforcement in the area. “Operation Midway Blitz” directed increased ICE activity to the Chicago area in September 2025.
“We started to see the impact [of ICE] about a year ago,” Diez said. “People were afraid to leave their homes. We deliver boxes of food [to half a dozen schools] … the kids can take the boxes … and the parents can also help get the boxes at the schools.”
Three-quarters of Food for Greater Elgin’s guests are Hispanic, according to the food bank. The new cooling vehicles allow the nonprofit to meet the “big increase [in need for] distribution boxes of food, especially to schools,” Diez said.
Loaves & Fishes, located in DuPage County, received $75,000 from the state, which went toward expanding its refrigeration space from a capacity of 96 pallets to 504 pallets. The expanded refrigeration space is part of Loaves & Fishes’ $15 million project, Nourish Together, helping the organization double the number of people it serves.
“A lot of pantries are really struggling with space,” Eric Gardner, director of grants for Loaves & Fishes, said. “We’re seeing a big increase of people that are coming to rely on our services.”
The expansion also allows Loaves & Fishes to give other local food pantries access to more storage space, reducing food waste and getting more food to those in need.
“These awards will help farmers, food businesses, and community partners expand their capacity and reach new markets,” Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II said in a statement. “When we invest in local food infrastructure, we are creating economic opportunity for businesses while ensuring Illinois residents have greater access to fresh, locally grown foods.”
Kakadoodle functions as an online farmers market based in Will County. The organization brings roughly 30 farms together to sell their goods in one online store.
The organization delivers boxes of locally grown food to around 700 homes and runs an in-person farm market in Matteson.
“We’re here to get clean food into as many hands as possible and support those regenerative farmers that grow it,” Marty Thomas, co-founder of Kakadoodle, said.
Kakadoodle used its $57,093 grant to expand cold storage at its farm market. The market, originally a detached garage on Thomas’ farm, now has a large freezer container to store frozen goods for customer pickup.
Approximately 80% of the food Kakadoodle distributes is frozen protein, so the freezer container fulfilled a strong need for the 400 to 500 weekly sales at the farm market, Thomas said.
Prairie’s Edge Garden, located in McHenry County, also used its award to expand cold storage. Prairie’s Edge Garden is a community-supported agriculture farm with 30 customers.
The expanded cooling storage will make the farm’s bi-weekly pickup process smoother and create a greater capacity to bring produce and flowers to markets and events.
Emily Kessler and Derek Kessler, who run Prairie’s Edge Garden, said they are excited to be a part of the local food scene.
“It’s been really exciting to connect people to their food, have them know a farmer and know where their food comes from,” Emily Kessler said.
Imperfections with grant process
But the grant lifecycle isn’t without its flaws, Thomas said.
Thomas shared that in his experience, the process of receiving a grant, from applying to getting the awarded funds, can take one to two years.
It can take six to 12 months to hear whether an organization is winning a grant, Thomas said. And regardless of the time that passes, grant recipients cannot change how they use the grant money. Thomas said it can be challenging for business owners to use the money strategically when they don’t know when the money is coming in.
“A lot of grants are like a profitable distraction,” Thomas said. “It was a direction we were going six months or a year ago. Now we got awarded this. Now we’re forced to go this direction because we have money to spend. But it’s not the business decision that we would make for our company today.”
Thomas also noted that the state’s food infrastructure grant for local entities was reimbursable, meaning that the money used to purchase the granted item – like expanded cooling storage – must first come from the organization itself. Then the state reimburses the organization.
“We didn’t have $57,000,” Thomas said. “We had to take a high-interest loan in order to buy [the cold storage]. So now we’re carrying high-interest debt for six to 12 months because that’s how long it takes to get reimbursed.”
While this particular grant came in at an opportune time, the delays and inflexibility in the process can cause a headache for businesses that deal with an ever-changing market landscape, Thomas said.
Despite the hassles that might come with applying, the state’s food infrastructure grants fulfilled a strong need for many organizations across the region.
“If this grant had not been available, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do this for another year or two,” Emily Kessler said. “It definitely changed the game.”
• Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
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