Do you feed children that are starving or do you put syringes in heroin addicts’ hands? Government food aid can either be seen as a crutch for the “poor” or something that is provided in times of need. Anonymous residents of Humboldt Park react to government assistance in a variety of ways from:

“That purple platinum card.” –male, age 22

“When my [food] stamps come on, I can provide food for the whole party.” – female, age 36

“If I need food, I can just work for it.”—male, age 25

In Humboldt Park, 15% of the population is reported to be living below the poverty line, and of that 15%, 57.9% accept food stamps. (US Census, 2007-2011) At the beginning of November, a 5% reduction in funding was issued for food stamps. (Aman, 2013) Thanks to this reduction in funding, many families are wondering will they have to look for other ways to feed their families or will they be spared from learning the harsh realities of not receiving funding. Either way, where in Humboldt Park can they find help?

When you Google a restaurant in Humboldt Park, a person will discover delicious Latino flavors from La Palma or Cemitas Puebla, appear with the cost, menu, reviews and other important restaurant information. However when you try to find a food pantry online, a lot of unanswered questions arise. Since I know the local reputation of the Great Chicago Food Depository, it was the first place I began my search.

From a quick search on the organization’s website, at least 10 “food pantries” appear to be less than a mile from the general 60622 zip code of the Humboldt Park community. The screen looks like the preview photo provided for this article.

Within seconds, locations, phone numbers, addresses and other services available are right at a user’s fingertips. However, something seemed off about this information, so I began to Google even further. What I ended up finding was minutes of frustration and hopes of never finding myself in need of food assistance. The first search that is given is New Hope Bible Church, which from their website seems like a nice church welcoming people of all backgrounds or as they like to call themselves, “a multiracial community of Christ followers.” Despite their fancy web work, I couldn’t locate any information about the food pantry they claim to offer, so I moved on to the next location, St. Mark Church Food Pantry.

The first search that is displayed from Google, is this informative website, with the times the pantry is open, to what people can donate, then the shock of a (317) area code on the number to contact, helped me realize the church was located in Indiana. So I went back and kept searching. On my third attempt, I was introduced to this website, Direct2food.org.

Direct2food is sponsored by corporate food giant, Kraft Foods and describes itself as “Metro Chicago’s one-stop shop for meeting the food needs of you and your family.” When looking for different food pantries, it asks questions about one’s household, in terms of if there are elderly or children in the household. After the website has gathered all your information, it gives you a list of services that specialize in your needs. The first resource the website gave me was food stamps. So where can I find help?