CHICAGO >> By the time the Pilsen Food Pantry opened on a recent morning, Ulysses Moreno had been there for two hours — with a line of people behind him that snaked around the corner.

“This is a lifeline for me,” said Moreno, 39. He had lost his construction job a few days earlier, and with three teenagers at home, he wanted to make sure he could stock up. “Our food budget doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.”

A few miles away, on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, luxury hotels are bustling. Jewelry stores and designer boutiques do brisk business. The restaurants are packed with diners sipping $20 cocktails while they wait for tables.

To Evelyn Figueroa, a family physician who founded and runs the Pilsen pantry, the dichotomy is striking.

“For people like me, who are homeowners, who are emp

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