Rockford Neighborhood Market celebrates grand opening amid increasing need, decreasing funding
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Northern Illinois Food Bank on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of its new Rockford Neighborhood Market featuring weekly free grocery shopping and 24/7 pickup from refrigerated storage containers for those whose schedules don’t align with shopping days.
The food bank has been serving neighbors at the new location, 1397 Sandy Hollow Road, for a few months after relocating from space on Research Parkway that it had used for the last decade.
The event on Wednesday marked the completion of its buildout and tweaks the nonprofit has made after welcoming its first guests earlier this year. The nonprofit held a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce and welcomed guests and supporters to tour the facility in an open house.
The celebration comes as the pantry is seeing an increasing number of patrons in need of groceries and an upcoming cut to federal funds that support its purchasing power.
The Rockford Neighborhood Market fills about 30,000 square feet of the former Kmart, and it provides Northern Illinois Food Bank with an additional 11,000 square feet of space compared to its previous site. The First Midwest Group-owned property also has a larger parking lot that puts an end to issues with congestion and traffic that made the former site challenging.
“In our old space, we would have to have one activity at a time: You could have the food pantry open, you could be volunteering or agencies could be coming to pick up,” said Julie Yurko, president and CEO of Northern Illinois Food Bank. “Now everything can happen all at once. So we know we can provide a greater impact for the community.”
The new Rockford Neighborhood Market is designed to feel like any grocery shopping trip, except you don’t have to pay at the checkout.
There are two shopping days per week, on Tuesday and Thursday, and residents are welcome to get their free groceries once per week. There is no proof of income required to shop at the market.
To take advantage of the 24/7 pickup, you can visit orderahead.org to create an account and plan your pickup from a refrigerated smart locker.
“During the pandemic we saw a lot of need for convenience and contactless shopping,” said Courtney Oakes, senior program manager at Northern Illinois Food Bank. “We know our pantry isn’t always open at all the convenient times for everyone, so this is a way for you to place your order and it will be in this refrigerated smart locker and you can just come at any time and claim it at your convenience.”
Increasing need, decreasing funds
The $600,000 project to renovate the space was supported by 262 donors who made gifts ranging from $1 to $95,000, according to Bill Connell, chairman of the Northern Illinois Food Bank board. State Sen. Steve Stadelman also secured $50,000 for the project through the Rebuild Illinois capital plan.
The market serves an average of 1,700 people each week, a number that has been increasing as food prices have risen. The food insecurity rate was 13.8% in Winnebago County last year, and so far this year it’s already risen to more than 15%.
Navy veteran Sean O’Sullivan shared his story of how he turned to relying on the market to help stretch his budget. He spent four years in the Navy and 16 years in the reserves. He earned a PhD in immunology and built a career in biotechnology for more than 20 years. Then he lost his job.
“You work hard … then suddenly you wonder how you’re going to pay the bills and put food on the table,” he told people gathered for the event. “Week after week the market helps us stretch our budget. With three teenagers the food disappears fast.”
O’Sullivan said there are other veterans with similar stories. About 1 in 9 working age veterans are food insecure, he said citing statistics from Feeding America.
“There are a lot of people out here who are struggling to make ends meet, and it’s not getting easier. People are being priced out of food and basic living expenses.”
Yurko said she expects to see even more people rely on its pantry in the future.
“We are anticipating to see demand go up as we see the economy struggling at this point and as we expect some federal benefits might decline,” Yurko said.
The new space helps it increase its capacity to serve.
“I’m so excited that we have this new space and we’re able to do so much more,” Yurko said. “It also is a little bit heartbreaking because we have seen, particularly over the last three years, the need increase so much. “It hurts my heart that so many people need help, but we are here to help.”
That increased need comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut about $500 million from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which helps provide grocery items to food banks. The cuts were part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to reduce federal spending.
“It is not impacting us in a significant way today, but it will in about two months,” Yurko said.
Yurko said their current funding goes through the end of June, and then they expect to lose about 20% of their food purchasing program funding.
“We are asking our community to help us fill the gap and we are also looking at ways that we can stretch our dollar even further because we want to commit to distributing as much food as we can in the coming year,” she said.
About | Rockford Neighborhood Market
Where: 1397 Sandy Hollow Road, Rockford
Schedule:
- 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays
- 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday
Order online and pickup: Go to orderahead.org, create an account, choose your nearest pantry and select items to pick up from the refrigerated smart lockers.
Rules: Rockford Neighborhood Market is a Federal Emergency Food Program site. You can shop at the market once per week on either day. There is a check-in and registration process where you may be asked to self attest to your income level, but no one is turned away from being provided groceries based on income. No shopping bags or boxes are provided and you should bring your own bags.
Info: Go to solvehungertoday.org.
Volunteer: If you’re interested in volunteering, visit HERE.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
