Food Depository teams with Hines VA, AmeriCorps to open veterans pantry

The food pantry at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital serves approximately 130 veterans per week.

In November, the Food Depository opened a new pantry at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital. The pantry distributes fresh produce, shelf-stable food and other nutritious groceries to veterans in the same place they’re already going for medical care.

“There's so much need for this," said Babette Peyton, a retired U.S. Air Force Veteran who recently received food from the pantry. "It’s helps me out a lot."

The pantry operates on Thursdays and has been serving approximately 130 veterans per week since its opening. It is one of the only pantries within a VA facility in the country, joining a similar program that the Food Depository launched at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago in November 2013.

In Cook County, 18 percent of households served by the Food Depository include at least one active or retired member of the U.S. Armed Forces. Additionally, more than 18,000 veterans in our community live below the poverty line.

To learn more about the Food Depository’s veterans response visit chicagosfoodbank.org/veterans.