Food for Greater Elgin CEO Andres Diez said his family’s motto has always been hope for the best but plan for the worst.
And that’s a philosophy he’s trying to embrace as his nonprofit and others grapple with two big challenges: the elimination of SNAP benefits come Saturday due to the federal government shutdown and the need to get food to Hispanic families who fear going to the pantry because of federal immigration agents in the area.
“Anecdotally, we have heard from guests that some people are afraid to leave their homes,” Diez said.
For the fiscal year that ended in June, Food for Greater Elgin — the largest food bank in Kane County — provided food 145,000 times to qualifying people. Households are allowed to shop once a week.
Of that number, 47% were new clients in 2025, 47% shopped only twice in the last 12 months and 16% visited at least once a month, Diez said.
“We help people stabilize their lives, and they move on,” he said.
Despite rising food costs impacting household budgets, the number of people seeking help has dropped by 5% to 10% between February 2024 and February 2025, he said.
Because of the surplus on hand, Food for Greater Elgin is letting local soup kitchens and smaller food pantries double the amount of items they take for their own operations so the food gets out to people who need it, Diez said.
They may also make changes to its proxy shopping guidelines so there is a provision to allow people to pick up items on behalf of anyone reluctant to come to the pantry in person, he said. They’d also like to set up an informal distribution system through which vetted volunteers can bring food to people, he said.
Centro de Información, a nonprofit that advocates for the area’s large Hispanic community, is a tenant in the pantry’s building and has been providing information and advice regarding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention efforts in the area for both pantry officials and their clients, he said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, recently met with pantry officials as well as Centro’s attorneys and Elgin-area rapid response team members to discuss how ICE was affecting the community and about the pending federal cuts to food funding, SNAP and Medicaid, Diez said.
“The percentage of our guests over 60 has doubled in the past nine months to almost 20%, mostly due to inflation,” he said. “Of those over 60, over 40% are on both SNAP and Medicaid so the impact of changes to both programs is unprecedented.”
When SNAP benefits were cut in 2023, Food for Greater Elgin saw a 150% increase in the number of people it helped, he said.
Because of the spending cuts coming out of Washington, D.C., he has been involved in discussions with leaders in anticipation of the future. In the last two years, they have doubled their warehouse space and added a significant amount of freezer and cooler space so they can have several months of food on hand should there be a crisis, he said.
Food for Greater Elgin is also on solid financial footing, Diez said.
“It’s been wonderful to see donors increase their giving. They are outraged by what they are seeing and reading,” he said.
The Illinois Retail Management Association has compiled resources for SNAP recipients and retailers, including how to locate local meal programs and food distribution centers. To access that information, go to irma.org/government-affairs/snap/.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.