St. Francis de Sales High School launched its student-run food pantry with a large food giveaway and Christmas celebration on Dec. 21, 2024.

“We just saw a need very early on to be able to do this work,” said Roni Facen, principal and CEO of the school at 10155 S. Ewing Ave.

Because of some unexpected electrical issues, the space that houses the food pantry was not open for the event, but that did not dampen the spirit of the “Christmas Extravaganza,” which included breakfast with Santa, games, face painting and Christmas tree and toy giveaways, along with the distribution of produce and 300 holiday meal kits that included pork tenderloin and pie.

Facen said the need to help students, their families and members of the wider community facing food insecurity became apparent soon after she became principal of her alma mater in 2020.

“They rang the doorbell and said, ‘You are a Catholic school. Do you have food?’” Facen said. “I got tired of saying no and I thought we have to do something.”

Food giveaways started with Facen using her own money to fill her truck with groceries from Aldi. The ministry grew quickly, so the school reached out to the Greater Chicago Food Depository to start mobile distributions once a month.

“And then we got more people and it just continued to grow, which is why the pantry in our school building became so important,” Facen said.

Between 300 and 400 people come for the monthly food distributions, Facen said, noting that St. Francis de Sales High School is located in the middle of a food desert.

“People have been lined up in front since 5:30 this morning when I got here,” Facen said. “I remember as a kid standing in these lines and being in these spaces, so now if I can pay it forward, I will.”

Once construction is complete, the pantry inside the school will be open two days a week. Students will earn work-study hours by staffing it and doing everything from inventory to client management.

The work-study program, called Southeast Side Experience Incubator, is a partnership with the Big Shoulders Fund.

“Our kids go to work one day a week and it helps subsidize tuition,” she said. “Our per-capita income of our kids in the building is about $20,000 a year.”

There is a greater purpose to the students working in the food pantry, Facen said.

“I want them to know that they have to be the change that they want to see in the world,” she said. “They cannot wait for someone to save the East Side. We have to do that work, which is why they are here running it.”

Alyssa Herod, a junior at St. Francis de Sales, said she sees the importance of having a pantry in school and reaching out to the community.

“When you think of the East Side, you think of like a certain stereotype,” she said. “Now it’s like, we’re here trying to help and to give back to help people here who are growing up.

It also fits into the sense of family students feel at the school, she said.

“I think it will make the school a safe place for people to come if they need help, for food or things like that and that it will grow as time progresses,” Herod said.

Board chairman Mike Melendrez, a 1990 St. Francis de Sales graduate, said having the students run the food pantry that will serve many of their own families and neighbors “was the biggest stroke of genius.”

“We know our students are special and we know where they are coming from,” he said. “For them to be part of the solution that we’ve been looking for for them is unbelievable. That’s what’s special about this school and what’s special about the families who come here. ... They’re just like, ‘Let’s jump in. Let’s help people.’”

As the food pantry grows, the students are going to be able to look back and say they were founding team members, Melendrez said.

“I think it’s going to be foundational for them on their journey to being in a better place in life because they were part of the solution,” he said.

Melendrez has family who still live in the community, and his relatives tell him how much the food distributions are helping others.

“It’s a lot of people in the neighborhood,” he said. “Food insecurity, people don’t understand how deep it goes.”