Food Pantry
The Maine Township Food Pantry has been helping to address issues of food insecurity since 1981. The recently-remodeled pantry is open to residents of Maine Township between the hours of 10-1 Tuesday and Friday and 2:30-4:30 on Wednesday.Residents can choose the items they need with a grocery-store-like shopping experience including a selection of dairy, meat, produce, and other refrigerated and frozen items. The Food Pantry provides food to over 400 families each month.
We have also partnered with East Maine School District 63 to assist students from food insecure families by providing Weekend To-Go Bags. This helps students receiving free or reduced lunches during the school week to have access to adequate nutrition over the weekend as well.
Greater Chicago Food Depository Partnership
After two years of effort, in October 2023, we created a partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD). The GCFD receives monetary donations from corporations and individuals, accepts food from restaurants and other sources, and purchases food in bulk through federal government programs. Volunteers at the GCFD warehouse help prepare large quantities of food for distribution by inspecting, sorting, repacking and labeling food before the GCFD’s fleet of climate-controlled vehicles distributes food safely to food pantries and programs throughout Cook County. Through our new partnership, our pantry is now one of those that receives a GCFD distribution every week. Our pantry can order from the GCFD the type of food our residents want, including meat, fish, dairy products and fresh produce. AND there is no charge to Maine Township. This has enabled our pantry to increase the quantity and variety of the food it can provide. You can access of list of other GCFD partner locations.
We are always in need of community assistance to help support our mission, as we cannot get all types of products from the GCFD that our residents require. Non-food items are not provided by the GCFD, but are still very much needed by our residents. Donations of toiletries (soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, etc.), diapers, baby wipes, Depends, feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, paper towels, and household cleaning products are greatly appreciated.
We also need snack foods for the Weekend To-Go Bags we provide weekly to local students who may be food insecure on weekends when not able to access meals at school. Items needed for these bags include fruit cups, juice boxes, popcorn, pudding cups, granola bars, Vienna sausage tins, and other snacks. Because we deliver these snacks off site to local schools, the GCFD does not provide these snack foods to us.
We cannot accept donations of opened, damaged, or expired food. Please do not donate large food service size cans.
Monetary or food donations may be dropped off during normal business hours of 9-5 Monday through Friday at the Maine Township Town Hall, 1700 Ballard Road, Park Ridge. You may also mail donations to that address.
To make it even easier to donate, we have an Amazon Wish List available. If you want to help us obtain the items we are most in need of, simply visit the site, select items to purchase, and have them shipped directly to us on your behalf.