From 30 Households to 700: How IVFC’s Food Pantry Has Grown

Two years ago, IVFC’s food pantry was serving around 30 households a month.

Today, we regularly serve 600 to 700 households each month.

That is not a typo, and it is not growth we ever planned for.

Over the past two years, the number of Illinois Valley households coming through our doors for food has increased roughly twentyfold. Some of that growth comes from more people knowing IVFC is here. But much of it reflects something more difficult: the need for food assistance in the Illinois Valley has grown dramatically.

Several changes happened at once. Federal SNAP benefits were reduced, leaving many households with less money for groceries at a time when food and other basic expenses remained high. Then the Illinois Valley’s largest food pantry closed, leaving a significant gap in the local food-assistance network.

Those families did not stop needing food.

IVFC did not fill that gap alone. Food pantries and community organizations throughout the valley have taken on more, and all of us continue working to meet a level of need our programs were never originally built to handle.

At IVFC, what we could do was open our doors wider. So that is what we did.

A Pantry Built Around Choice

If your picture of a food pantry is a cardboard box of canned goods handed across a counter, the IVFC pantry may surprise you.

Our pantry is set up more like a small grocery store. Community members walk through and choose the foods that work for their households. With additional refrigerator and freezer capacity, we are now regularly able to offer fresh produce, meat, dairy, frozen foods, and other perishable items alongside shelf-stable staples.

That ability to choose matters.

It means less food is wasted because people take what they will actually use. It allows someone managing diabetes, food allergies, cultural preferences, or other dietary needs to select food that works for them. Most importantly, it gives people greater dignity and control over something as basic and personal as feeding themselves and their families.

We also stock ready-to-eat foods for people who do not have reliable access to a kitchen. For someone living in a vehicle, tent, or other situation without cooking facilities, a bag of dry beans may technically be food, but it may not be something they can actually eat. We try to make sure there are options for them too.

IVFC’s pantry also now holds a 1A designation, which improves our priority for food bank allocations and helps us bring more food into the Illinois Valley.

A Community Effort

None of this happens because of IVFC alone.

The Josephine County Food Bank is the backbone of our food pantry and makes an enormous portion of this work possible.

We supplement those resources with community donations, support from IVFC board members and other local partners, and a modest food-purchasing budget that we stretch as far as possible.

And then there are our volunteers.

Every week, volunteers unload deliveries, sort food, stock shelves, organize refrigerators and freezers, keep the pantry clean, and help neighbors shop.

As the pantry has grown from serving around 30 households a month to as many as 700, the work required to keep it running has grown right along with it.

We are grateful to everyone who has helped IVFC respond to this moment—and to the many other organizations, food pantries, volunteers, donors, and neighbors working alongside us to make sure people in the Illinois Valley have enough to eat.

If You Need Food

If you need food, please come see us.

You do not need an appointment, lengthy application, or proof that you are struggling. If you tell us you need food, we will help you.

Pantry shopping hours
Monday, Thursday, and Friday
12:00–4:30 p.m.

To-go food bags
Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., while supplies last

Illinois Valley Family Coalition
535 E. River Street
Cave Junction, Oregon
(541) 592-6139

If You Want to Help

Serving 600 to 700 households every month takes a lot of food—and a lot of hands.

Donations help us purchase food and keep the pantry stocked. Volunteers help us unload, sort, stock, clean, and keep the pantry open to our community week after week.

Donate to the Food Pantry 
Volunteer with IVFC - Email info@ivfc.org link or call 541-592-6139