Northern Illinois Food Bank's

Campaign for a New Food Bank

... but not out of hungry people!

The Need

Hungry people in our communities need your help.  Hunger is a silent epidemic that affects too many people - the child who goes home from school to an empty dinner table; the senior on a fixed-income who must choose between medicine or food; the working parent who spent their last few dollars putting gas in their car just to get to work. Northern Illinois Food Bank has been committed to helping people like these for over 25 years, and continues to grow each year to face the challenges of those in need.

Unfortunately, NIFB's ability to grow to help our hungry neighbors has begun to slow in recent years while the number of people in poverty continues to rise.  Northern Illinois Food Bank has access to more food and has a strong network of food pantries, soup kitchens, and other food assistance sites in place to distribute the food.  What, you may ask, is stopping the Food Bank from reaching more people?

The answer is that NIFB has reached its capacity at its current facility.  The inefficient design and lack of space at the 40 year old building present a roadblock to helping more hungry people.  Simply put, moving to a new facility will allow the Food Bank to potentially triple its food distribution to the increasing numbers of hungry people.

Click here to view the capital campaign video!

*Matching challenge grants from the Alfred Bersted Foundation, Thing 1-2-3 Foundation, and Jewel-Osco.

The Plan

Northern Illinois Food Bank has developed plans to build a new distribution facility that will accommodate the pressing needs of the hungry for years to come.  The Food Bank has purchased 10.83 acres of land in Geneva, IL to construct a properly designed food-handling facility.

The facility will feature increased storage capacity, an efficiently-designed layout geared towards food handling, more dock space including refrigerated dock space, and improved volunteer areas for increased production. 

Northern Illinois Food Bank is also excited to add two new components to the facility.  First, the facility will house a Nutrition Center to educate people on proper nutritious diets and how to stretch their food purchasing dollars.  In partnership with Benedictine University, the Nutrition Center will also serve as a research center to study the effectiveness of federal programs designed to help people in poverty.  Secondly, it will have a Production Kitchen that will provide finished meals to our agency partners.  NIFB feels strongly that these two new components will contribute to the eradication of poverty in northern Illinois.

Click here to view the capital campaign video!

*Matching challenge grants from the Alfred Bersted Foundation, Thing 1-2-3 Foundation, and Jewel-Osco.

The Support

Hungry people in northern Illinois need your support to make this vision possible.  The Food Bank calculates the overall cost of the project to be $14,800,000.  Such a large fundraising goal will require the support of all in the community.  This comprehensive plan will make a significant difference in the lives of hungry neighbors, but without you involved, it will remain just a vision.  Please take the time to learn more about this critical campaign by reading the Case Statement provided here.  No donation is too small so please consider a gift above and beyond your normal contributions.  Several Giving Plans can be made and Naming Opportunities are available to the most generous gifts.  Please make yours today! Several generous donors have issued challenge grants to the community, including the Alfred Bersted Foundation, Jewel-Osco, and Thing 1-2-3 Foundation.  Your donations will be matched by these organizations!  Click the Donate Now button to learn more.   Remember, we are running out of space ... but we are not running out of hungry people!

Click here to view the capital campaign video!

Call 630.443.6910 on how you can support this campaign!