Neighbors Helping Neighbors since 1984.
Who are we?
The Irving Park Community Food Pantry is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping alleviate food insecurity on the Northwest side of Chicago. The purpose of the IPCFP is to provide hunger relief services, hunger education and awareness and advocacy to influence anti-hunger policy.
Our goal is to provide caring, consistent service through an equitable distribution of Pantry resources to all clients.
On a weekly basis, our volunteer-run organization serves clients in need, within the 60641 and 60618 zip codes, a 3-5 day supply of food from all food groups.
Location & Hours
4256 N. Ridgeway Avenue Chicago, IL 60618
The Irving Park Community Food Pantry is located within the Emanuel United Methodist Church at 4256 N. Ridgeway Avenue (60618).
Hours of Operation:
Wednesdays 9:00am - 12:00pm
Second Tuesday of every month 6:00pm - 7:00pm
If you live within our service area (60618 or 60641 ZIP codes), please come in during operating hours! We will register you as a client for monthly food allotments based on your family size. If you live outside of our service area, we can provide you with a small amount of food and direct you to a food pantry that serves your neighborhood.
DATES FOR TUESDAY EVENING (6 to 7 p.m.) DISTRIBUTIONS FOR THE REST OF 2025:
October 14th, 2025 November 11, 2025 December 9. 2025
HOLIDAY CLOSURES
The Pantry will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26th and for the December holidays on December 17 and December 31st, 2025.
Regular distributions of food for 2026 will begin again from 9 a.m. until noon on Wednesday, January 7th and 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14th.
LATEST NEWS & UPDATES
DONATE TO THE PANTRY'S HOLIDAY GIFT DRIVE!
The Pantry’s annual Holiday Gift drive to underway, with the goal of providing all eligible clients’ children 12 years old or younger with a stocking filled with gifts and treats during our December distributions!
To ensure we receive the appropriate number of age-related gifts, donations can be ordered from our Amazon registry: Amazon registry. Please don’t donate any other gifts.
You also can donate money toward the purchase of the needed gifts for each age through PayPal at www.irvingparkfoodpantry.org or your Zelle account to treasurer@irvingparkfoodpantry.org. or by mailing a check to Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., Chicago IL 60618. You can mark "gifts" on your donation if you want to ensure your donation is used for that program.
Deadline to receive donations is Monday, December 15th, but earlier is always better!
With the number of families the Pantry serves growing on a weekly basis, we anticipate filling at least 300 stockings for our children. Please consider helping making the holidays a more joyful time for our neighborhood children.
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SNAP BENEFITS END OCTOBER 31st!
On October 24th, the USDA announced that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will not be distributed in November unless the federal government reopens. This is unprecedented and stands to cause a historic and avoidable, hunger crisis.
SNAP benefits help 41 million Americans nationwide receive food. For every meal provided by a pantry, SNAP provides nine meals. This will be an overwhelming amount of need for as long as it lasts.
We anticipate our numbers to grow rapidly until this situation is resolved. We are most in need of monetary donations so we can purchase the specific foods needed, often at great discounts unavailable to individual shoppers.
If you can help out, please make a donation via PayPal at www.irvingparkfoodpantry.org or mail a check to Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., Chicago IL 60618. We appreciate your support at this critical time!
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IRVING PARK COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY AWARDED $1M+ CITY OF CHICAGO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GRANT
We are thrilled to announce that the Pantry has been awarded a grant in the amount of $1,035,617 through the City of Chicago’s Community Development Grants program. The reimbursement grant will help the Pantry construct a new home, central to its primary service area of the 60641 and 60618 ZIP codes. CLICK HERE for the official press release.
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LIMITED INSIDE SHELTER AVAILABLE
During inclement weather, the Pantry can offer limited inside shelter to clients. The space is small and cannot be guaranteed to all clients during their visit, so please dress appropriately for being outside in cold or wet weather. We are sorry for the inconvenience and will try to move the line along as quickly as possible to get everyone sheltered.
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BRING YOUR OWN BAGS
The Pantry will no longer have plastic bags available to provide to clients as of Wednesday, March 6th, 2024. Clients must bring their own reusable bags to take food home. Several resusable bags will be provided during a client’s first visit, and they are encouraged to bring their own. Those who don’t bring their reusable bags after their first visit will be offered leftover cardboard boxes to gather their groceries together.
Food insecurity is the state of being without a reliable or sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
“The COVID19 crisis disproportionately affects low-income families and hourly workers. Many people face health issues, less income or both.”
— Greater Chicago Food Depository
“1 in 7 people in Cook County experience food insecurity .”
— Feeding America
“Households with children are nearly 1.5x more likely to experience food insecurity than households without children .”
— U.S. Department of Agriculture