Agencies & Programs

We distribute food through the partner agencies in our network. They operate independently primarily as food pantries or soup kitchens. They cover geographically all of Lake and Porter Counties. The agencies are located in the following communities:

Lake County Cedar Lake Crown Point Dyer East Chicago Gary Griffith Hammond Highland Hobart Lowell Merrillville Munster Shelby Whiting

Porter County Chesterton Hebron Portage Valparaiso

If you are a person or family in need, please call our Agency Development Manager Chandra Timberlake at 219.980.1777 and she will direct you to an agency close to your home.

BackPack Program
The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. Backpacks are filled with food that children can take home on the weekends. The food is child-friendly, nonperishable and easily consumed. The backpacks are discreetly distributed to children on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation. For more information click here.

Kids Cafe Program
The Kids Cafe Program provides free meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of community locations where children already congregate--such as Boys & Girls Clubs, churches or public schools. In addition to providing meals to kids, all Kids Cafe programs also offer a safe place where, under the supervision of trustworthy staff, a child can get involved in educational, recreational and social activities. For more information click here.

Mobile Pantry
The Mobile Pantry is another way for us to get out and directly interact with those in need. It is another newer program that started in October of 2007. We load up our truck with goods and go to different distressed communities throughout Lake and Porter Counties that do not have access to a traditional food pantry to distribute free food. We have many volunteers who assist us in setting up and passing out the food as well as cleaning up afterwords. Like with the Community Cupboard, clients get to choose what items they want since we do not pre-bag anything. The Mobile Pantry is usually held on Saturdays between 8:30 a.m. and noon. We try to offer the service two to three times a month, and service between 150 and 300 families at each event. Our current dates and locations are listed below. We will continue to update this list as more dates are confirmed.

Renaissance Towers	Martin Luther King Center	Roberto Clemente Center	Pennsylvania Center	Bessie Owens Center
January 30, 2010	January 16, 2010	February 20, 2010	March 20, 2010	April 17, 2010
February 27, 2010	May 15, 2010	June 19, 2010	July 17, 2010	August 21, 2010
March 27, 2010
April 17, 2010
May 22, 2010

The Renaissance Towers are located at 524 Michigan St. Hammond, IN 46320. The Martin Luther King Center is located at 4802 Melville Ave. East Chicago, IN 46312. The Roberto Clemente Center is located at 3616 Elm St. East Chicago, IN 46312. The Pennsylvania Center is located at 3550 Pennsylvania Ave. East Chicago, IN 46312. The Bessie Owens Center is located at 4001 Alexander Ave. East Chicago, IN 46312.

Interested in Joining the Network?

If you are an agency interested in starting a food pantry or soup kitchen, or are already operating and would like to become a member of our network download our pre-application form and contact Chandra Timberlake at 219.980.1777 or email her at timberlakechandra@yahoo.com

Click here for a pre-application form