School District Helps Nonprofit As Demand For Food Skyrockets

PLAINFIELD, IL — Requests for food from the Bags of Hope program have skyrocketed since the start of the Illinois stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Plainfield Academy will host a food drive May 22 to ensure they can continue helping families in the community.

The Plainfield School District 202 said in a news release that they will be holding a donation site from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. at Plainfield Academy. Participants are requested to drive south on Bartlett Street towards Lockport Street and comply with the no-conatct drop off rules. A truck will be parked in the alley, on the side of school, where donations can be dropped off.

"If others are present, we ask that everyone practice social distancing," the release said.

Founded in January 2016, Bags of Hope is a local nonprofit that provides food for students in the Bolingbrook, Joliet, Lockport, Minooka, Plainfield, and Romeoville communities to take home each weekend. It has received 200 new requests since schools closed in March because of the pandemic and is now serving 28 of the 30 schools in District 202, said Bags of Hope executive director and treasurer Dr. DJ Skogsberg.

On average, Bags of Hope delivers 1,800 bags of food in the fall and 3,200 bags of food in the spring. As of Thursday, May 14, the organization has delivered 5,142 bags of food this year, Skogsberg said.

"Bags of Hope has had a hard time getting enough food to meet the demand," he said.

The Plainfield nonprofit cannot buy in bulk at the grocery stores due to restrictions during the pandemic, so they have heavily relied on various food drives held throughout the community, said Bags of Hope chair Lana Howe.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has also made it harder to distribute backpacks to students," Skogsberg said. "Prior to the pandemic, a small group of 10 volunteer drivers would deliver the full backpacks to the schools to be distributed to students. Now, since the shelter-in-place order from the governor, we have had to expand our delivery service to deliver door to door with a much larger pool of drivers."

Each week, 40 volunteer drivers — many of whom are District 202 teachers, social workers and administraters — can now be seen delivering bags of food to individual homes.

"We are definitely thankful for their willingness to help during this time because we definitely need it," Howe said. "We cannot thank them enough."

Bags of Hope needs more non-perishable food donations and monetary donations, which can be made on its website.

"We pride ourselves on the fact that other than general administrative costs, every cent we bring in goes directly to food for the kids," Skogsberg said.

Creekside Elementary School will also hold a food drive for Bags of Hope from 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 12:30-4 p.m. on Monday, May 18.