KANKAKEE, Ill. — Community leaders gathered outside the Kankakee Area YMCA Child Care Center on Saturday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony as shelves inside the new pantry stood filled with food and household essentials.
For Kristi Schu, Saturday’s ribbon-cutting marked the celebration of something she had envisioned for years: a place where local families could find support during tough times. Standing outside the center, where she serves as director, Schu spoke to community leaders about the opening of the new food pantry she helped bring to life.
“One of the first families to use our new pantry told me that without it, her family would not have been able to eat for three days,” said Schu, the Kankakee Area YMCA Child Care Center director. “This pantry represents a promise to families across the community: you do not have to face hardship alone.”
With pantry shelves stocked and the doors officially open, Schu was joined by Morgan Roberts of University of Illinois Extension and David Parker, CEO of the Kankakee Area YMCA, in cutting the ribbon to celebrate the pantry’s official opening.
“Today is really a celebration of what strong community partnerships can accomplish,” said Morgan Roberts, Illinois Extension food and health systems educator serving Grundy, Kankakee, and Will counties. “This pantry represents months of planning and shared commitment from organizations that care deeply about the community. Kristi has been an incredible champion for this work from the very beginning, and her passion for supporting local families is what helped turn this vision into a reality.”
The pantry was developed through a partnership between the Kankakee Area YMCA and University of Illinois Extension, which worked alongside YMCA leaders to assess community needs, identify resources, and navigate the systems and planning necessary to launch a sustainable pantry operation.
A vision years in the making
For years, starting a food pantry at the YMCA Child Care Center was just an idea. That changed when Schu was connected with Morgan Roberts of Illinois Extension:
“Our CEO had a meeting with Morgan about a childcare assessment, and he told me about it afterward. I immediately said, ‘Well, I have an idea,” Schu said before laughing about how everything fell together in perfect timing. “Morgan and I connected, I told her my idea about the food pantry, and she helped us do a needs assessment survey. That really became the foundation of our partnership.”
In her role with Illinois Extension, Roberts focuses on helping organizations and communities create policies and systems that make healthy food access easier. This includes advising food pantries of all sizes.
“My job is to be the connector and guide throughout the process,” said Roberts. “There are a lot of logistics that go into running a pantry: what kind of donations will you accept, who will you serve, what grants will you apply for, and many things that you may not think about initially. My job is to help our partners navigate the ‘systems’ around this work and support them in providing this type of impactful service.”
YMCA leaders and Extension staff worked together to identify resources, explore funding opportunities, and plan the pantry’s long-term operation.
Schu said receiving grant support from the YMCA of the USA helped transform the concept into a reality.
“The refrigerators, the shelving, all of those things are expensive,” Schu said. “That grant really made it possible.”
Addressing a growing need
The pantry was created to support families connected to the Child Care Center and the broader Kankakee community, where many households continue to face rising grocery costs and food insecurity.
“Food insecurity impacts more families than people realize,” said Roberts. “While factors like income, community conditions, and systemic barriers can place families at greater risk, food insecurity cuts across all demographics and income levels. Many families are only one unexpected crisis away from needing support.”
According to data from Feeding America, nearly 1 in 7 people in Kankakee County are food insecure, meaning they may not know where their next meal will come from or may not have consistent access to enough nutritious food.
“People think if you use a food pantry, it’s because you don’t have a job or something, but that is not the case at all,” said Schu, who added that part of what makes the YMCA pantry different is offering hours outside of the traditional workday so working families can still access support when they need it.
This was an important need identified as part of the needs assessment conducted by the Kankakee Area YMCA and Illinois Extension.
Looking toward the future
While Saturday’s ribbon cutting marked the first public celebration of the work, the pantry has been open for almost two months and has already seen significant impact, according to Schu:
“I am proud to share that since opening at the end of March, we have served approximately 80 households, 241 individuals, and distributed 876 pounds of food.”
Looking ahead, both Schu and Roberts say that the pantry’s opening is only the beginning of a larger, more holistic effort to strengthen food access and community wellness.
“I thought it would be really great on a Saturday to offer a cooking class and have families cook with just the items we have here in the pantry,” Schu said. “So, they can see, ‘Oh look, I can make all these different meals.’”
As the pantry continues to grow, organizers hope to eventually partner with Northern Illinois Food Bank to expand the food available.
In the meantime, the pantry must rely on the generous donations of area grocers and individual contributions.
Community members interested in supporting the pantry can contribute through food donations, financial gifts, or volunteer support. A list of needed donation items can be downloaded online, and donations can be dropped off at the YMCA Child Care Center Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“Sometimes people just need to know someone cares,” Schu said. “This pantry tells families that this community sees them, supports them, and wants them to succeed.”
The Kankakee Area YMCA Child Care Food Pantry, located at 1025 N. Washington Ave. in Kankakee, is open to YMCA members on Wednesdays and to the public on Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m., excluding YMCA holidays.
For more information on Illinois Extension, visit extension.illinois.edu/gkw.
▶️ Listen to Kristi's opening remarks
SOURCE: Morgan Roberts, Extension Educator, Illinois Extension; Kristi Schu, Child Care Center Director, Kankakee Area YMCA.
WRITER: Anthony Warmack, Communications and Marketing Program Coordinator, Illinois Extension.
INTERVIEWS: Contact Anthony Warmack, warmacka@illinois.edu, to request specialist interviews on this topic.
MEDIA ACCESS: Images in this story can be downloaded for media use.
IMAGE CAPTION: “Representatives of the Kankakee Area YMCA and University of Illinois Extension stand inside the new food pantry. From left to right: Kristi Schu (director of the Kankakee Area YMCA Child Care Center), Morgan Roberts (Extension educator), Mandy Minton (Kankakee Area YMCA business manager), and Marilu Andon (Illinois Extension county director).”
About Kankakee Area YMCA: The Kankakee Area YMCA is more than just a gym. It’s a movement of thousands of people making positive changes in their lives and their community. The YMCA serves people from various walks of life, strengthening spirit, mind, and body and improving physical well-being in a healthy and friendly environment. The YMCA is Kankakee's premier provider of family health and wellness.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 500 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through five program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, health and community wellness, and natural resources, environment, and energy.