Free food will be distributed in four Champaign County communities this month to help alleviate hunger during the holiday season.

The United Way of Champaign County, the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council and other labor organizations are sponsoring mobile food pantries for the next three Saturdays in Rantoul, Mahomet, Champaign and Urbana.

The organizations buy a truckload of food from the Eastern Illinois FoodBank for each distribution, which can feed anywhere from 125 to 250 families. The truckloads cost $1,500 to $2,500 and carry 5,000 to 9,000 pounds of food and household supplies, depending on their size, said food bank Executive Director James Hires.

"It's a quick way to get a food distribution out at a very critical time," Hires said. "We hope to do 30 to 40 of these a year in our 14-county area, in underserved areas where there are food gaps. These make up the difference in a big, big way."

Lyn Jones, United Way president and chief executive officer, said the agencies sponsored three distributions last year but decided to add another this season because of the rising need.

"We could do six," she said.

Census data released last month showed poverty rates for many counties in East Central Illinois were up in 2008. Champaign County's overall poverty rate – which is inflated by the presence of University of Illinois students – was 18.7 percent in 2008. A year earlier, the overall poverty rate was 18.2 percent. In 2000, the county's rate was 11.7 percent.

"It just validates what we have seen on the ground for the last year, and continue to see," Hires said.

Hires said the Food for Families drive this fall met its goals, raising more than $100,000 and 200,000 pounds of food for the food bank, with donations still coming in.

"The community responded extremely well, particularly on the financial side," he said.

The food bank has made a concerted effort to boost the "nutritional density" of food in its mobile distributions, offering high-protein foods and fresh produce when it's available. It also provides cleaning supplies and other pricey household items that struggling families might not be able to afford on their own.

But that's more expensive, so the partnerships with the United Way and labor groups are important, Hires said.

Here's the schedule for the free food distributions:

– Rantoul, Dec. 5: Community Service Center of Northern Champaign County, 520 E. Wab- ash Ave., 10 a.m. to noon. Sponsored by AFSCME Local 3700.

– Mahomet, Dec. 5: United Methodist Church in Mahomet, 1302 East South Mahomet Road, 1 to 3 p.m. Sponsored by AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.

– Champaign, Dec. 12: Stratton Elementary School. 902 North Randolph St., 10 a.m. to noon. Sponsored by ECI Building and Construction Trades.

– Urbana, Dec. 19: Prairie Elementary School, 2102 E Washington St., 10 a.m. to noon. Sponsored by UA Local 149 and IBEW Local 601.

Labor groups and their families will staff the food distributions.