LITCHFIELD — HSHS St. Francis Hospital's St. Clare Center Food Pantry received the Agency of the Year Award for 2015 from the Central Illinois Foodbank. The award was given at the Foodbank's annual agency conference held in Springfield in May. The theme for the conference was "Growing Forward."

The St. Clare Center Food Pantry, located on Union Avenue in Litchfield, was established by HSHS St. Francis Hospital in 2008. More than 16,000 local individuals were served during the past fiscal year. Volunteer hours for the last year totaled 765.

Becky Gudgel, St. Clare Center Food Pantry coordinator, said, "We were very proud to receive the Agency of the Year Award from the Central Illinois Foodbank. I am so grateful of the support we receive from the community and from our volunteer staff. They help us to continue our mission of helping those in need. Our volunteers were very excited to be honored with this recognition."

The St. Clare Center Food Pantry is a member of the Central Illinois Foodbank, which was established in 1982 by a coalition of churches and distributes over 8.5 million pounds of food annually to over 150 food pantries, soup kitchens, residential programs and after school programs in a 21-county region.