Food Pantry

The Care Service Food Pantry

The Care Service Food Pantry is the largest food pantry in St. Charles, Lincoln & Warren counties and one of the few offering a client-choice format.

Operating since 1981, the Pantry distributes food each week to families and individuals with low incomes who do not have the means for purchasing adequate supplies. By providing food assistance, the Care Service enables families to use scarce financial resources for other household necessities such as housing, utilities, transportation, and medical needs, and move toward maintaining stabilization.

The families receiving goods from the Food Pantry are often eligible for other Care Service programs and are identified during assessment appointments.  The Care Service also receives referrals from other social service agencies in the area. However, many clients find out about the Food Pantry while at the Care Service for other assistance, such as help with rent or utilities.  Over 60 dedicated volunteers help work nine shifts, pick up supplies from over 18 locations, sort, prepare, and distribute food and household goods to about 125 families each week. The Food Pantry is sustained primarily through community support, including donations from civic groups, local schools, churches, and individual families, with a majority of the food and goods being donated on a weekly basis for our clients.

The Food Pantry provides many services to those in need.  In addition to weekly food sustenance, clients receive personal hygiene items as available, household cleaning supplies as available, school supplies at the start of the school year, flu shots, Easter baskets for children under 12 years of age, and No Hunger Holiday (Thanksgiving meal).

In 2016, the Food Pantry began offering a client choice format, considered a best practice food pantry standard. Those we serve have the opportunity to choose their own foods which allows them a sense of dignity and control. Client choice eliminates waste as people take only what they need and allows them to tailor the assistance they receive to be the best possible fit for their own unique circumstances.