Aurora food pantry to host drive-through food giveaway April 17

Plano High School football players will pitch in at a drive-through, pop-up food pantry Saturday, April 17.

Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry will hold the mobile pantry from 10 a.m. to noon at the high school, 704 W. Abe St., Plano.

The public is invited. Admission is free; identification is not required.

Rebecca "Becky" Dunnigan, pantry community outreach and program coordinator, said Reaper head coach Rick Ponx and 20 players will help load $100 bags of groceries into patrons' vehicles. Volunteers will observe pandemic safety procedures.

The Plano distribution is the seventh in a series of bi-weekly pop-up pantries held in Oswego, Montgomery and Aurora since January.

Food for 200 families will be available on a first-come basis. Items to be distributed include granola bars, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, pasta, pasta sauce, eggs, ground beef, cereal, applesauce, apple juice and box dinners.

Some 37 families, including 89 children, were served at the Saturday, April 10, pantry at Austin Park in Montgomery. The next pop-up will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 1, at White Oak Library in Crest Hill.

Aurora Interfaith Pantry partners with Fox Valley Park District, Calvary Church of Naperville and Blessings in a Backpack of Chicago to provide free groceries to local families at the pop-ups.

Assisting Dunnigan in the effort is the Rev. Kyle Dern, Calvary outreach pastor. He drives a church truck that transports food to distribution sites. About 10 Calvary congregants and food pantry personnel assist at the pantries.

Call (630) 692-3061 or visit aurorafoodpantry.org for more information.