Chicago-area food pantries worry they can't meet need after SNAP benefits end

Veterans Assistance Partnership ready to help veterans losing SNAP benefits

ByEvelyn Holmes WLS logo

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Local food pantries worry they can't meet need after SNAP benefits end

DuPAGE COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- Local food pantries in the Chicago area are already seeing more requests from people looking for help to feed their families and with SNAP benefits set to end this weekend. There's concern food assistance groups won't be able to meet the need.

Terry Roman, a truck driver with a disability, knows he won't go hungry Wednesday.

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

But with SNAP food assistance benefits set to end this weekend, the 59-year old, who lives in a shelter, doesn't know what he'll do without the $292 he gets every month for groceries.

"I'm out of work pretty much right now. So I'm depending on that. I don't have much of an income. So it's like real vital to me," Roman said.

The DuPage County man is among the thousands of people on the verge of becoming food insecure there.

Workers at the Glen House Food Pantry say the number of people on their waitlist for service has ballooned to more than 100.

They say suspension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid will affect more than 70,000 people in Chicago's western collar county.

"We were serving, offered shopping opportunities about 300 times a week. Last week, next week we're gonna boost that to 435. We're squeezing more people in for every hour we're here. We're adding hours so people have a chance to shop," said Laura Glaza, Glen House Food Pantry executive director.

As a part of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, the Trump administration cut food assistance benefits. And now because of the federal government shutdown and emergency funding, the program is ending.

"I am gravely concerned about the ending of SNAP benefits starting on Nov. 1," said Julie Yurko, Northern Illinois Food Bank president and CEO.

Yurko runs the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which operates in 13 counties surrounding Chicago.

As a part of the Feeding America Network of food banks, it serves on average 570,000 people, a majority who receive SNAP every month, which is highest number the organization has seen.

"Every meal we provide, SNAP provides nine. Can we make up eight meals? We cannot. There's no way we can keep up with this," Yurko said.

In the meantime, food banks and pantries are trying to figure out creative ways to fill the void and continue to make sure that people, like Roman, have enough food to eat.

To address SNAP benefits going away, it's expected Illinois' governor will sign an executive order Thursday, directing $20 million in state funding for food bank support across Illinois.