With the need for a grocery store in some communities in Joliet organizations are addressing food insecurity in novel ways.
Activating Relationships in Illinois for Systematic Equity (ARISE) has opened a micro food pantry outside the entrance to the Salvation Army Joliet Corps Community Center, 300 3rd Ave. The small box, supported by the Will County Health Department is stocked with food for those who need it. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the installation of the micro pantry was held on Saturday in Joliet.
Sometimes known as “blessing boxes,” micro pantries are grassroots, crowd source solutions to an immediate local need for food. Micro pantries resemble little free libraries and are small structures that people or groups place in communities. Anyone can leave or take foods and household supplies as needed. This box is Will County Health Department’s 60th micro pantry.
Dr. Robert Dutton, health equity manager for Will County Health Department and coalition facilitator for ARISE for Will County, said this outdoor micro pantry can be accessed by anyone day and night.
“Many residents and our homeless community rely on free food items from either our food pantries and also our micro pantries,” he said. “With the addition of the micro pantries, they are stocked with non-perishable food items and health care products that are available 24/7, 365 days a year through generous donations.”
Dutton said the Salvation Army will regularly monitor the location to make sure the micro pantry is stocked, as will the Will County Health Department.
“The requestor of the micro pantry signs an agreement to have the micro pantry installed at their location and is directly responsible for keeping the micro pantry stocked allowing easy access to the community at all times,” he explained. “Local residents can come at any time to pick up what they need and also leave donations.
“The Will County Health Department Health Equity team and the ARISE coalition for Will County conducts periodical inspections of all the micro pantries throughout Will County to see that they are stocked, serviceable to include any maintenance and to ensure that non-perishable items have not reached their expiration date.”
In October 2022, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health awarded up to $3.7 million to 18 different organizations across the state to address systematic health disparities, including ARISE for Will County.
According to the Salvation Army, 59 percent of people seeking food assistance must choose between paying for food or paying for rent or mortgage. Additionally, 17.4 million families in the U.S. go to bed hungry and an additional 6.9 million families experience very low food insecurity. This is of concern to Dutton and others like him who want to help the families.
“We strategically placed these micro pantries in our underserved communities who do not have immediate access to food because of a disinvestment of local grocery stores creating an environment known as food deserts,” he said. “Our mission is to have access to food through our food pantries and micro pantries, so no one goes hungry.”
The Salvation Army Joliet Corps Community Center hosts a food pantry from noon to 3 p.m. every Monday. Food distribution provides shelf-stable pantry items, milk, diapers, paper and hygiene products and other household necessities. A map of all micro pantries can be found on the Will County Health Department’s Web site.