Small volunteer groups that provide food assistance to Illinoisans in need could be eligible for a new round of grant money under a program announced this week.
The Charitable Trust Hunger Relief Grant program will provide grants of up to $5,000 to 10 nonprofit organizations that don’t have full-time employees to purchase food for those in need. Applications opened June 1 and will remain open through July 31, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs announced Wednesday.
The announcement comes as food assistance groups experience increased need due to cuts to federal food assistance, including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Feeding America, the country’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, states that for every meal the organization provides, SNAP provides nine.
“Hunger and food insecurity is a hidden epidemic afflicting children who cannot ask for help and adults who find it difficult to ask for help as they juggle two or more jobs,” Frerichs said in a statement June 10. “Small, local food pantries and soup kitchens are prepared to help these innocent lives because they see those suffering in the shadows. That is why we created this desperately needed hunger relief program, as these organizations try to help people get food as affordability remains a major concern.”
The hunger relief program is part of a larger charitable trust fund, created in 2007, that helps small nonprofits with annual budgets of $1 million or less and at least one full-time employee.
The fund is supported by fees paid by larger nonprofit corporations when they file annual incorporation reports with the Illinois Secretary of State. This round, however, is open to organizations without full-time employees who did not previously qualify.
An 11-member committee, made up of appointees from state government agencies and private citizens, oversees management of the funds and selects grant recipients.