Brookfield’s Share Food Share Love food pantry is opening its doors to members of the public later this month.
On Oct. 26 from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Brookfield residents are invited to visit the pantry at 9030 Brookfield Ave. for a special open house where they can tour its offices and see the space where neighbors in need can browse shelves of free food as they would in a grocery store.
“We really want to bring the community in to take a look at our operation if they haven’t [visited before], or even if they have, they’re welcome. It’s 10 years, now, in operation for us,” said John Dumas, the food pantry’s administrative director. “We want to celebrate the folks who come in and the ability that we’ve had to help them and to bring them along. That’s what we want to celebrate, the literally thousands of people that we’ve helped in 10 years.”
Dumas told the Landmark refreshments will be provided as residents are allowed to explore the building and learn about Share Food Share Love’s operations, which expanded in July to include items for babies and menstrual products in addition to the food it offers to people who cannot afford to buy it themselves.
“Only about half of the building is visible on a normal day for the food pantry when you come in to get food. They’ll be able to go in the back if they want to see our storage. Everything is going to be open for them to get the chance to go in there at a time when we’re not distributing food,” he said. “We’ll have all of our board and a lot of volunteers there, so they’ll be able to explain to them how we do things, why we do them the way that we do them. After 10 years, there’s a purpose behind everything, so we want to make sure people have a chance to connect.”
Dumas said the open house comes as the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which provides the food pantry with about 75% of its food, faces federal budget cuts of more than 25% in the wake of the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill.
“We’re going to have less food to give out, but we’re determined not to allow that to happen to the people that come to us. We’re going to be trying to connect with the community and saying, ‘Hey, we want to let you know what’s going on, and we need your help,’” he said. “We think we provide a really positive experience for the folks that come in. We hope that will motivate people to want to participate, whether it’s food donations, monetary donations, volunteering; there’s so many ways they can help.”
