Dolton food pantry sees surge in visitors, could run out of groceries Wednesday

DOLTON, Ill. (WLS) -- A Dolton food pantry has been busy since it opened its doors on Tuesday morning because it is seeing twice the usual number of people.

Shelves are already empty. If it continues at this pace, the food pantry says, they may not have anything by Wednesday.

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Unemployed computer engineer and snap recipient Rick Loll has not eaten since Monday.

"It seems like it's more loaded than normal, way more loaded," Loll said.

He is one of the hundreds who have been waiting for hours in the line that wrapped around the Feed N Deed Market food pantry in south suburban Dolton, hoping to get some much needed groceries.

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"My Link card was canceled, so don't have any food and we didn't prepare for it correctly, but it's kind of scary," said Chicago resident Kimberly Krenz.

The food pantry's founder, Dr. Nicole Scott, says she is worried that she will not be able to help everyone.

"By tomorrow, more than likely, we will not have any produce to serve all the families that visit tomorrow," Scott said. "And I see the long lines, and it's getting longer around the building down the block, is that we will run completely out of food for that day."

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Scott says since SNAP benefits were suspended, the number of people coming to the client choice food pantry, where customers get to grocery shop, has ballooned from 150 to 200 a day to over double that. The pantry, which is open three days a week, has been forced to ration everything to make sure everyone gets fed.

"We had to cut the canned goods we give out. We used to give out two now we only give out one," Scott said.

And it could get worse, affecting families in both urban and rural areas.

In Illinois, according to the U.S. Census American Community Survey 2023, 13.5% of households receive SNAP benefits. Since the federal government shutdown, the hardest hit groups are as follows:
- 40.1% of households that receive SNAP have a white householder
- 34.8% of households that receive SNAP have a Black householder
- 18.6% of households that receive SNAP have a Hispanic/Latino householder

"I came here to just, you know, try to get some food. Everything is expensive now," said Andrea Pisknov, who recently moved to the area from New York City.

On Saturday, with the help of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the pantry plans to do an additional food box giveaway.

The pantry says they will stay open for extra hours, because the line still stretches about a block long. Their concern is for Wednesday, when they simply say they may not have enough food to be able to give out.