Northern Illinois Food Bank Honored with Network Celebrations Award

Northern Illinois Food Bank is proud to announce it was awarded the 2024 Network Celebrations Award by Feeding America for its outstanding work. This prestigious award recognizes member food banks and affiliates within the Feeding America network that exemplify the spirit of "Many Voices, One Vision" through innovative initiatives and impactful work in the fight against hunger.

Feeding America is the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, comprised of 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 agency partners, including food pantries and meal programs. These efforts collectively provide critical food assistance to millions of people annually. Only seven Feeding America network members and affiliates, including Northern Illinois Food Bank, received the 2024 Network Celebrations Award for their outstanding contributions. Other recipients included; Arizona Food Bank Network, Facing Hunger Foodbank, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, God’s Pantry Food Bank, and Ohio Association of Foodbanks.

Northern Illinois Food Bank was recognized for its innovative work in expanding online ordering to neighbors experiencing food insecurity by onboarding food pantries to the OrderAhead platform. By investing in the capacity of the Food Bank’s network food pantries and engaging them in a peer learning cohort, Northern Illinois Food Bank has significantly improved the food assistance experience for its community. This initiative allows neighbors to privately select food items and choose convenient pickup times and locations directly from their phones or computers. Notably, 39% of the neighbors now ordering from the pantries have not sought their services before.

The award was accepted by Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Executive Team and Board Chair during Feeding America’s Annual Conference, themed "Many Voices, One Vision." The conference emphasized the collective effort needed to achieve the vision of "An America where no one is hungry."

"We are honored to receive this distinguished award," said Julie Yurko, President and CEO of Northern Illinois Food Bank. "The success of the OrderAhead program is a testament to the collaborative and innovative spirit of our entire organization as we work to help our neighbors thrive."

Last year, Northern Illinois Food Bank's network of over 900 food pantries, soup kitchens, and feeding programs served more than 90 million meals to neighbors across 13 counties in suburban and rural Northern Illinois.

About:

OrderAhead is an online ordering tool from Feeding America. Four Northern Illinois Food Bank member agencies have started their distributions using the OrderAhead website. Their programs were developed with the support of the Northern Illinois Food Bank Innovation Team and Feeding America.

Local Food Pantries offering OrderAhead online ordering tool:

• St. John Lutheran Church Food Pantry, 2650 Plainfield Road, Joliet, IL
• H.E.A.L. Riverwalk Food Pantry, 350 N. Broadway Street, Joliet, IL
• Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, 1110 Jericho Road, Aurora, IL
• Neighbor Food Pantries – Family in Faith Church Food Pantry, 1480 Bloomingdale Road, Glendale Heights, IL

Find out how you can get help, volunteer, donate or get involved at SolveHungerToday.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.