S&B in the field: Common Pantry

Founded in 1967 in Lincoln Park, and housed since 1985 in a tiny clutch of rooms in the basement of Epiphany United Church of Christ in Roscoe Village, Common Pantry is Chicago’s oldest continuously operating food pantry — and has been a Soup & Bread partner since we first started up in 2009. With a service area that stretches from Diversey to Lawrence and Ravenswood to Kedzie, the pantry serves about 75 households — or about 225 people —  a week, with another 47 enrolled in its home-delivery program.

“Our numbers have been steadily climbing from 2009 on,” says executive director and sole full-time staff member Scott Best. And though things began to plateau in 2013, the number of home delivery clients — primarily elderly and disabled people living on fixed incomes — has skyrocketed. “This is a relatively affluent neighborhood,” says Best, “but there are still these invisible pockets of distress. We have a lot of people come in who are reaching out to social services for the first time in their life, because of a medical emergency, or the loss of a family member, or the loss of a job.” Recent cuts to SNAP benefits haven’t helped. “When the cuts happened in November,” he says, “we immediately saw a huge increase — maybe 25% higher, though winter always brings more people to our doors no matter what.”

Best came to Common Pantry after burning out on the corporate grind. He quit his job and started volunteering in May of 2008, and one month later was appointed executive director of what was, by all accounts, a pretty chaotic operation, operating on the slimmest of shoestrings. Six years later Common Pantry has more than 100 active volunteers, a monthly produce distribution program, ongoing relationships with Trader Joe’s and other grocery chains, a free Wednesday community meal, and a social services program offering help with housing, job placement, medical referrals, and more — all without a cent of government money. Common Pantry’s budget comes exclusively from fundraising efforts and private donations. With the $500 raised on their behalf at Soup & Bread, they’ll buy food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and pay for gas to go pick up the food to boot.

In the videos below, Best, volunteers, and clients talk about the effect Common Pantry has had on their lives.