Food for Greater Elgin’s fundraiser, Pallet to Palate, is a foodie’s dream, featuring such local cuisine as tamales from La Cosecha, mini medallion sliders from Elgin Public House and pizza from Danny’s on Douglas.

More importantly, however, it’s also a vital fundraiser for the Elgin-based food pantry as it braces for potential cuts to federal programs.

The event will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Schock Centre of Elgin’s Heritage Ballroom, with vendors are providing examples of some of their signature items.

“Last year, I don’t think everyone who came expected to leave completely full. There’s a lot of food,” said Emily Tyler, director of development for Food for Greater Elgin.

“We tried to get more of a variety of food this year,” Tyler said. “It might make it harder for attendees to stop (eating) because there are so many different types of food. … I think it will be a big hit.”

Among the area restaurants and businesses participating this year are Duke’s BBQ, Stewarts’ Cheesecakes, Mama Lee’s Popcorn, El Patio, Café Roma and Las Gorditas De Don Angel.

Portillo’s will be on hand to serve their signature chocolate cake. “We haven’t had them on board before so it’s a fun addition,” Tyler said.

La Cosecha also is a new vendor this year.

“Our staff loves their tamales. We are excited they’re going to be there,” Tyler said.

Valeria Cervantes and her family own La Cosecha. She wasn’t very familiar with the food pantry before signing on, other than “they help people who are in need,” she said.

Community support has made La Cosecha successful over the last five years and “we are happy to return the support,” she said. They’ll be serving mini pork, chicken and poblano cheese tamales.

The event is a huge one for Food for Greater Elgin, Tyler said. Their other big fundraiser is Chip in for Hunger golf outing, which this year will be held Monday, Sept. 8.

“This probably generates the most income for us,” Tyler said.

So far they have sold 300 tickets to Pallet to Palate, exceeding their $70,000 goal by about $5,000, Tyler said. Individual tickets are $75 and sponsorships range from $500 to $10,000.

“We are so grateful. We have just generous sponsors and supporters,” Tyler said. “At any time, it’s important to meet fundraising goals, but especially in this time when so much is uncertain. I think all nonprofits are in the same boat right now, kind of waiting to see what’s coming down the pipeline.”

President Donald Trump has directed his administration to make cuts throughout the federal government, including money going to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Funding has already been reduced for some programs that assist the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which supplies food to local pantries and allows them to buy groceries at discounted prices, Tyler said.

“The foods available to us through the Northern Illinois Food Bank have been reduced,” she said. “Each month we get a list of foods that are not available. We’ve seen some really big cuts to essential items like milk and, of course, eggs.”

As a result, food pantry officials must find other places to source those items, she said.

“A great thing that has happened for us is places like Meijer and Woodman’s do fundraisers for us and give us gift cards for their stores,” Tyler said. “We try really hard to budget very carefully and use our money efficiently and be good stewards of that.”

The last time the federal government made cuts to SNAP, “we saw a 150% increase in guests coming to shop with us,” she said.

“If we were to see a 150% increase in (requests for help) right now, we couldn’t sustain it,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to meet the need. Right now, we are feeding 150,000 people a year. A 150% increase on that is very significant.”

For now, the agency is OK, Tyler said. “We’re doing our best. We’re trying to make sure every person who comes to shop with us gets food,” Tyler said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.