Residents primarily from the Greater Englewood Community in the City of Chicago, are welcome to visit a full service and organized food pantry two-times a month on Saturdays from 9am to 11am. The population is 82% African American, 16% Hispanic and 2% other. Inventory for the pantry is primarily provided through a long standing partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Pantry who provides a USDA package of food from the primary food groups on a monthly basis. ATTCOM also solicits and receives individual donations, grants from businesses and private donors to purchase food items, personal hygiene and household cleaning supplies not provided in the USDA Packages and not readily available in the community. Individuals are permitted to shop and select from a group of essential food items and shelf staples including USDA stamped; bread, cereals, nuts, grains, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, canned goods.
Clients register through ATTCOM’s pantry coordinator who enters basic client identification information into the “Link 2Feed” client tracking database which verifies the identity of an individual, the head of household, whether a client has additional income and financial resources, the number of times an individual has visited the pantry and reports to other partners using the system, demographics and total number of clients served per visit.
A group of loyal and diverse volunteers greet clients and provide assistance with selecting from food groups and the quantity of items permitted. The Link 2Feed Client Tracking System reports that ATTCOM distributes food to approximately 125 individuals which is representative of a household size on average of four which estimates to feeding 500 mouths per week.

In partnership with the Sylvester and Naomi Smith Senior Living Facility located in the Gresham Community, every fourth Wednesday of the month, ATTCOM packs essential food items into “SAM” its food rescue van and transports enough groceries for at least seventy residents to have an equal access to free groceries and personal hygiene items in the convenience of the facility’s dining hall. The doors open at 10:30am and residents sign in with one of ATTCOM’s Benefit Access Coordinators operating the Link to Feed client choice tracking system. Clients proceed to go or be led around the food tables, shop, be bagged and escorted out of the dinning hall either by one of ATTCOM’s seven volunteers; two of which are residents of the senior living facility. Residents are over sixty-five years of age, on a fixed income, some handicapped or disabled and most BIPOC. Doors close at 12pm with little food supplies to return to ATTCOM’s physical storerooms. The “Link to Feed” client tracking system reports that sixty-two residents have shopped at the Food Pantry Pop up each month.

“SAM” ATTCOM’s food rescue van was purchased through an unrestricted grant awarded by The United Way of Metro Chicago partner in 2023/2024. SAM is used to solicit and two-times a week, retrieve food and hygiene items of name brand and higher quality, outside of the food desert and in order to make available to Englewood’s residents a better quality and freshness of food. ATTCOM also partners with other pantries in other neighborhoods who receive and share donations and items that are not readily available to the Greater Englewood Community, and uses SAM to make weekly pick ups to distribute amongst the community. ATTCOM also uses SAM to share its inventory with other pantries in the Greater Englewood Community, who do not have transportation or programs available to identify and retrieve supplies of an expanded quality to distribute to their pantry clients. A board member and loyal volunteer shares in picking up food donations, stocking cold storage and pantry closets with donations and coordinating with potential donors to expand this program.