After years of planning and work, West Suburban Community Pantry in Woodridge unveiled its new look.
“Today we’re having our grand reopening ceremony, which really celebrates the culmination of about three years of work to plan for and renovate the pantry space to provide more access and dignity to people in the community who need food resources,” said Executive Director Laura Coyle.
Increased Food Demand
Along with extra capacity to support more demand, the facility now has a new welcome area complete with private offices to meet with families using their services.
The pantry’s clientele nearly doubled during the pandemic, going from about 300 to 500 families using their online ordering system.
“This project would not have been able to be accomplished without the support of this wonderful community,” said Coyle. “So we were really able to do all of this through the support of generous donors and community leaders.”
Amazon Fresh Donation
One such donor is Amazon Fresh, which opened a store in Naperville in December. They supplied three palettes of fresh produce to celebrate the grand reopening.
“I think the base of what we are looking for is a local source to provide for and West Suburban Community Pantry is definitely that,” said Naperville Amazon Zone Lead Sarafina Pastrana. “I think it is definitely is a great way to provide for the community and give back to the community.”
Community leaders were on hand to celebrate the occasion and tour the new facility.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
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