Carl Wolf, executive director of the nonprofit Respond Now, said the holidays were particularly challenging this year for families in Chicago’s south suburbs.
He said the Chicago Heights nonprofit, which offers immediate food and housing support, served about 20% more families, or about 346 families, during the annual holiday giveaway compared to last year. He cited recent events that increased stress for families, such as the temporary halting of food stamps and the presence of federal immigration enforcement officers in the area.
Wolf also said the nonprofit received an overwhelming increase in support and donations in response to these events, with supporters telling him they are concerned about “threats” communities face.
Dozens of community members, including donors, nonprofit partners and volunteers, showed up to the nonprofit’s holiday giveaway Dec. 17, also known as the Christmas Store, and helped give hundreds of pound of food and over 1,000 clothing and toy items to families, including more than 840 children.
“We understand that times are very precarious, and there’s just a lot of stress in the communities,” Wolf said. “The community’s response has shown that people want to try and make our communities better by stepping up in a variety of ways.”
The holiday giveaway was hosted at the Marian Catholic High School and St. Agnes Parish, now part of Our Lady of the Heights Parish in Chicago Heights. Wolf said parents talked with volunteers about what toys their children wanted, then volunteers found similar toys from what the organization had. The families also went home with an Aldi gift card, a turkey and other food.
Toys, food and items were donated from over a dozen nearby companies and charities, along with individual families and residents. The nonprofit also raised more than $13,000 at its Home for the Holidays event in early December.
Wolf said that the biggest challenge was supporting families during the temporary loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, known as SNAP, in November.
He said when the benefits were paused, his nonprofit, at 1439 Emerald Ave., was in between locations due to renovations scheduled to finish by Jan. 5. He said they had just finished using a temporary location at Bethel Family Resource Center and had a month gap without a place to host the pantry.
“We thought that would be fine, you know, that we’ve just got some work to take care of around the facility, but a week or so into that we realized that the stamps were going to be cut off,” Wolf said.
He said his staff scrambled, and Emmaus Church in Olympia Fields provided a pop-up site for the pantry that month, even providing coffee and doughnuts for residents. He said it was still difficult, though, because people that they usually served were unsure where to go.
Wolf said although benefits were restored, he is concerned with stricter federal work requirements for SNAP, slated to begin Feb. 1 and outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The new requirements state people ages 18 to 64 must work or volunteer a minimum of 80 hours per month or participate in certain training or education to receive SNAP benefits, with some exemptions.
Wolf said his nonprofit serves families who might not meet the work requirements necessary to maintain their food stamp benefits. There are 16,828 people who receive benefits in the Chicago Heights, Sauk Village and Lynwood area, according to data from the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
“It’s a concern because if people get cut off, what we do with the food pantry is just simply not going to make up for that,” Wolf said.
Wolf said he is also unclear about what federal funding for permanent supportive housing will look like over the next three to six months, which he said has housing advocates on pins and needles. He said his organization serves up to 70 units of supportive housing.
The funding concern, he said, stems from a November funding notice from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that presented new restrictions on grant funding that supports permanent housing and other related housing programs.
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from imposing these restrictions Dec. 19, but Wolf said he is still concerned with funding application deadlines approaching. He said his organization needs to renew funding for one program by April, which he said his staff usually begins to apply for by July. He said the federal changes this year have set that process back.
Despite recent concerns, Wolf said he looks forward to renovations being completed, giving the food pantry more space and allowing it to be open five days a week instead of three. Residents can use the pantry twice a month, and there will be self-service stations, he said.
He said before the renovations, the more than 30-year-old building was a little dilapidated, but said the renovation emphasizes a feeling of “worth and dignity.”
“It was charming, but not completely warm and comforting,” Wolf said. “We’ve redone it and people can walk in and really feel, really know, they’re important.”
awright@chicagotribune.com
