DoorDash delivering groceries from Northern Illinois Food Bank to families in need
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Food pantries all over the Chicago area make sure people in need can feed their families, but what happens when one of those people can't make it to the food pantry?
The Northern Illinois Food Bank has a solution, using DoorDash drivers to deliver food like they would from a restaurant.
David Kierna is a DoorDash driver who is just one of dozens of drivers picking up groceries at the Northern Illinois Food Bank distribution center in Lake Forest to bring them to people in need.
"You feel good about bringing people food, especially these days. People are hurting, and they're getting something to eat," he said.
Randy Stotz runs the Lake Forest distribution center, where families place orders through a special website, the food bank packs up the orders, and at 5:45 p.m. on delivery days the call goes out to DoorDash. Within minutes, drivers arrive at the parking lot to pick up orders and deliver them.
"This program is designed to help people that can't make it to the food banks," Stotz said. "One of our missions is to make sure the people that need it the most get the food. They can just go online and order the food that they need, and they know that it will just be brought to their door."
Those who get their food bank orders delivered don't have to pay for delivery. The drivers are paid by the food bank and through a grant from DoorDash.
The deliveries are open to anyone, and they're sensitive to those who might feel embarrassed.
"We fight against the stigma that comes with going to a food bank. That's one of the other major reasons why people will shy away from going to a food pantry. This way, they don't have to," Stotz said.
Kierna's delivery took him to Gurnee and the home of Onesha Gaiter, who doesn't have a car, so she can't get to a pantry to get food for herself and her daughter.
"It feels good to just have it delivered to my door," Gaiter said. "I wake up like, 'Ooh, it gets delivered today.'"
Every week, DoorDash delivers 1,000 orders for the Northern Illinois Food Bank. DoorDash started funding food bank deliveries nationwide in 2018. The Northern Illinois Food Bank joined the program in 2021.
Earlier this year, DoorDash provided another round of funding to keep the program going.