St. Blase food pantry essential for families facing impossible choice: 'Do I pay rent or buy food?'

SUMMIT, Ill. (WLS) -- Every year, our generous ABC7 viewers rally together to provide thousands of meals to local families as part of the Feed the Love campaign.

ABC7's Val Warner is ramping up that effort by visiting our three local food banks.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

For one local mother of four, the high cost of living means choosing between paying the rent or buying groceries.

"Everything's just getting more and more expensive," said Aubrey Lewandowski. "I'm just trying to make everything stretch as far as possible-saving some of my SNAP benefits because I don't know if we're going to get those."

Lewandowski is a south suburban mother of four who recently turned to her local food pantry for help after getting laid off from work.

"I was unemployed for a period of time where I wasn't working at all, and I completely relied on this, or we wouldn't have eaten," said Lewandowski.

RELATED | ABC7 Chicago kicks off annual Feed the Love campaign | How to donate

Aubrey has since found work, but she still relies on this food pantry located in the basement of St. Blase Church in southwest suburban Summit.

"I'm here as frequently as we can," said Lewandowski. "We get a lot of pasta, sauce, vegetables, bread, frozen and fresh fruit-pretty much all the staples that we use on a daily basis."

The St. Blase Food Pantry has been a community lifeline for more than 20 years, according to food pantry worker Sister Patricia Brynirska.

"We serve about 80 to 90 people every day on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, and also on Wednesday we serve a hot meal for the people."

The pantry is run by Catholic Charities and the Albertine Sisters, and it's supplied by the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

"Sometimes they cannot match their needs because of the high price for everything," said Brynirska.

"Every week, I'm looking at which bill needs to be paid first. What are my due dates? Do I pay my utility bills? Do I pay my rent? Do I get food?" Lewandowski explained.

"This gives me something that I can rely on. I can rely that I can come here every month. I can rely on that they're always going to have some things to help us out. And I know that we will not go hungry with organizations like this," said Lewandowski.