In fiscal year 2024, the Food Depository was called upon to ramp up our existing emergency support for asylum-seeking new arrivals. Large numbers of families and individuals continued to arrive from the southern U.S. border. Many had crossed multiple nations on foot, in search of safety and opportunity.
The Food Depository had been supporting new arrivals since August 2022, working with the State of Illinois and other partners to provide food and resources at emergency shelters and police stations where families gathered, waiting for shelter spots.
In May 2023, the Food Depository’s role rapidly expanded when the City of Chicago called on us to provide hot meals at a growing number of shelter sites. The Food Depository quickly ramped up a response that included meals purchased from a network of community-based restaurants and caterers and meals prepared in our own kitchen. This response was funded by the State of Illinois and private philanthropy.
Maete Eranados, 37, fled Venezuela in 2023 with her three children. She says she is grateful for the food she received while staying at a Chicago police station.
“We eat well here. They give us rice and chicken; they give us breakfast,” she said. “We feel lucky and thankful for this food because without it, we wouldn’t be able to eat because we have no way of making money for ourselves.”
By purchasing meals from small, community-based food vendors throughout Chicago, the Food Depository was able to reinvest millions of dollars back into the local economy while keeping up with an increasing demand.
Through this approach, we turned an urgent need for food in the community into an opportunity to also support business owners in historically disinvested communities by investing and creating economic opportunity in those neighborhoods.
“We eat well here. They give us rice and chicken; they give us breakfast. We feel lucky and thankful for this food because without it, we wouldn’t be able to eat because we have no way of making money for ourselves.”
Maete Eranados, new arrival
We continued to ensure the prepared meals we provided – both purchased and prepared in our kitchens – were culturally affirming and agreed with the palates of those we were serving. These meals brought a taste of home and comfort to so many now faced with the difficult task of rebuilding their lives.
We provided approximately 20,000 daily hot lunches and dinners for more than 10,000 people between May and December of 2023. This was made possible through the generosity of private supporters, as well as funding from the State of Illinois, and proved critical in our ability to respond immediately during a time of heightened need.
In January 2024, the City of Chicago moved forward with a new contractor to support new arrivals. The Food Depository is proud of the role we served in the city’s immediate response for asylum seekers, in particular the new model of meal procurement we brought forward that the city has since adopted with its new contractors.
In March 2024, the Food Depository started supporting the State of Illinois’s request to feed up to 100 asylum-seeking new arrivals arriving daily at an intake center for new arrivals. In partnership with the State of Illinois and New Life Centers, the Food Depository provides meal kits, along with shelf-stable food kits, coffee, water, fresh fruit, baby food and supplies as needed, for new arrivals as they work on onward movement plans. From March to June, the Food Depository provided more than 10,000 meal kits to individuals at the intake center.
At the same time, the Food Depository continues to support new arrivals staying at two State of Illinois operated shelters. We procure cereal, oatmeal and other shelf stable items for breakfast, while also providing more than 500 hot, culturally affirming lunches prepared from scratch by Food Depository staff on weekdays. More than 500 daily hot, ready-to-eat dinners, as well as 500 weekend lunches are procured from community-based vendors, furthering our commitment to supporting businesses in historically disinvested communities.
We also continue to support the food needs of new arrivals more broadly through our network of community partners, including food pantries and meal programs.
Ruth Mendez, 34, has been attending pantry distributions at Grace and Peace pantry in North Austin, a Food Depository partner, for the past few months. Mendez arrived in Chicago from Venezuela with her family less than a year ago. Her husband works in construction, and she stays home to care for their two young daughters, who are 5 years old and 6 months old.
“The food I get here helps me so much because my family is living off one income,” said Mendez. “Although my husband works full-time, his salary isn’t enough to sustain the four of us. The pantry helps me with not only food, but also supplies for the baby and for my older daughter. I can get a lot of things here that are necessities. It is so helpful to me.”
“Supporting the food needs of all members of the community, whether they arrived yesterday from another country or from out of state or have lived here their entire life, is inherent to our mission,” said Amy Laboy, vice president of programs and community partnerships. “Our new arrivals work does not come at the expense of our longtime neighbors. We serve asylum-seekers at the same time as we continue to meet the record need for food in the community.”
