Leaders and workers at the Pilsen Food Pantry are reeling from the sudden loss of a stalwart employee they say was an icon of the pantry.
Celso Dionicio Ignacio died unexpectedly Saturday from gastrointestinal bleeding, according to Dr. Evelyn Figueroa, director of the pantry and a primary care doctor at University of Illinois Health. He was 50.
“He was an angel,” Figueroa said. “We’re very much reeling from sadness. It’s a disaster.”
Ignacio lived near the pantry, which is at 19th and Throop streets, where he began working in 2020.
The pantry moved to the space in early March and the longtime Pilsen resident visited soon after to see how he could pitch in. “He walked in saying ‘Can I help?’ and he helped us,” she said.
As the pandemic hit and demand at the pantry grew, his role became indispensable and he was hired in May 2020.
He was no longer working the restaurant job that he had before the pandemic and threw himself into the work, helping to clean and process the 25,000 pounds of food the pantry receives every week, Figueroa said.
As the pandemic waned, he returned to working at restaurants on the Lower and Near West Sides but kept up his role at the pantry. “He’s irreplaceable,” Figueroa said.
Ignacio, a native of Mexico, sent money to his parents. His body will be returned to Mexico on Friday; he will be buried in Mexico City.
He died Saturday at UI Health, where he was taken early that morning after a chronic condition flared up, Figueroa said. He got to see his son, his only blood relative living in Chicago, before he died.
Ignacio was born in Oaxaca in 1972 and moved to Chicago in 2006, said Figueroa, and providing for his family and helping others is what drove him.
Jesse Rodriguez, a co-worker from the pantry, recalled how Ignacio’s willingness to help others led him to serve well beyond what was asked of him.
“He was a courageous man,” said Rodriguez, recalling when a raccoon got stuck in a pipe outside the pantry.
Rather than calling for professional help, which could put the animal down, Ignacio wrapped himself in a tarp, clambered into the pipe and rescued the raccoon.
“We saw his will to just say, ‘We’re going to get this done no matter,’” said Rodriguez.
The 35-year-old liked to call Ignacio a “Mexican MacGyver” for his ability to fix broken shopping cart wheels, refrigerator doors or whatever else might break. “He would find a way to fix it in some easy, inexpensive way,” Rodriguez said.
More than anything, Ignacio was beloved for his welcoming attitude.
“He was kind of the classic immigrant story — a hard-working, caring person who wanted to be welcomed and loved. And he tried every day to embody that by accepting people,” Rodriguez said.
In addition to his parents and son, Ignacio is survived by two daughters.
The pantry is raising money to help cover funeral costs. To donate, visit www.figueroawufamilyfoundation.com/donate.
Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.
