Rosie Jones has been using an at-home delivery service to receive free groceries through Nourishing Hope, a Chicago-based food assistance organization, for more than a decade, but she recounts her relationship with the organization in terms of major life events.
“My husband passed and I’ve been with [Nourishing Hope] for about a year now,” Jones said. “But off and on, it’s been years—it’s been two hip replacements.”
Nourishing Hope seeks to combat one of the most pressing health threats faced by Chicagoans: food insecurity. Lack of access to affordable, healthy food impacts more than 483,000 Cook County residents, according to a 2021 study from Feeding America, making Chicago the city with the third largest number of people living in food-insecure households.
“We have a huge waiting list right now—with almost 60 people waiting to be added to the program.”
Nourishing Hope’s delivery service provides groceries to around 950 people in Chicago’s North Side every month.
Jones lives in a building that offers affordable housing to older Chicagoans, and many of her neighbors also receive food deliveries from volunteers who transport food from Nourishing Hope’s Ravenswood “Hub” to their doorsteps every month.
“A lot of people need food,” said Ana Petersohn, manager for Nourishing Hope’s food delivery program. “We have a huge waiting list right now—with almost 60 people waiting to be added to the program.”
Many of Chicago’s neighborhoods are notorious for being food deserts, and according to a report on food insecurity and older adults from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Cook County residents who are 65 and older who have limited income are at the highest risk of falling into food insecurity. Without a solution, this issue is likely to impact an even greater proportion of Chicagoans in the coming years, according to the same study, as this population is predicted to increase by more than 50% by 2030.
Ernestine Henderson, a resident in the same building complex, was struggling to make ends meet after her husband passed away. Before she found about about Nourishing Hope through a social worker, Henderson sometimes needed to forego food to cover medical expenses.
“My husband got sick and then he passed away two years ago,” said Henderson. “The income that I was receiving was barely enough to pay the rent. I only had a few dollars left, and it wasn’t enough to pay for medication and groceries.”
“We have the money, we have the food, but we don’t have the volunteers to deliver the food “
Ana petersohn
According to a 2019 study conducted by the Greater Chicago Food Depository, 21 percent of older adults who were surveyed reported to making tradeoffs between food and housing, as well as food and utilities (24 percent), food and transportation (14 percent) and food and medical care or medications (17 percent).
Sacrificing food to pay for medical expenses can lead to hunger and malnutrition, which can worsen existing medical conditions, according to an American Society on Aging report. As a result, food insecurity can lead to declining health and high medical costs—a 2018 CDC analysis revealed that food insecurity results in an 11% increase in insurance costs for older adults without a chronic health condition, and can drive up the costs even more for those with chronic illnesses like arthritis and hypertension.
Nourishing Hope’s program offers two free food deliveries per month, which include fresh fruits and vegetables, canned goods and proteins. Packages are assembled by volunteers and staff at Nourishing Hope’s headquarters, located in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago’s North Side. Made-to-order packages are also available for clients who have dietary restrictions.
The greatest barrier preventing Nourishing Hope from reaching everyone on their wait list is a lack of consistent volunteers who sign up for delivery shifts, according to Petersohn.
“We have the money, we have the food, but we don’t have the volunteers to deliver the food,” Petersohn said. “The more volunteers we have, the shorter your route is going to be.”
Shelley Fulla—who joined Nourishing Hope’s board in 2023 and is a weekly participant in the delivery service program, says that some prospective volunteers are deterred because they overestimate the time commitment for food delivery shifts.
“I normally leave my home at nine forty-five, I’m at the hub at ten and most of the time I’m done by eleven thirty—and that’s delivering to eight to ten households,” Fulla said.“I’m able to get it done really quickly and I come away from it feeling really good and knowing that I’ve helped some people.”