News

Volunteers distribute food supplies at the Hyde Park–Kenwood Food Pantry. Courtesy of the Hyde Park–Kenwood Food Pantry.

Margaret Mitchell, AM’82, PhD’89, Shailer Mathews Distinguished Service Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Director of the Hyde Park–Kenwood Food Pantry, was featured in The Chicago Maroon discussing the sharp rise in food-pantry demand across the South Side amid recent disruptions to federal SNAP funding.

During the federal funding lapse, the pantry’s Saturday numbers jumped by nearly 30 percent, prompting an urgent expansion of volunteer support to keep pace with the increased need. Mitchell noted that while charitable food programs play a critical role in neighborhood wellbeing, they cannot replace SNAP’s scale.

“Charitable food networks are already stretched,” Mitchell said, emphasizing that recent policy changes, including new work requirements and state matching-fund rules, add significant long-term strain. “The human cost is great,” she added.

Read more about Mitchell’s work and the challenges facing South-Side food security in The Chicago Maroon.