As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 1, 2003                Registration No. 33-

________________________________________________________________________________
                                  UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549
                                    FORM S-8
                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      Under
                           The Securities Act of 1933

                               ------------------

                             KANKAKEE BANCORP, INC.
             (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)


                                                                            
                         Delaware                                                  36-3846489
              (State or other jurisdiction of                                   (I.R.S. Employer
              incorporation or organization)                                   Identification No.)


                               ------------------

                            310 South Schuyler Avenue
                            Kankakee, Illinois 60901
                    (Address of principal executive offices)

                               ------------------

                      KANKAKEE BANCORP, INC. 2003 DIRECTOR
                         SHORT TERM STOCK INCENTIVE PLAN
                            (Full title of the plan)

                               ------------------

                               Michael A. Griffith
                                    Chairman
                             Kankakee Bancorp, Inc.
                            310 South Schuyler Avenue
                            Kankakee, Illinois 60901
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

                                 (815) 937-4440
          (Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

                                 With copies to:

                             John E. Freechack, Esq.
              Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum Perlman & Nagelberg LLC
                        333 West Wacker Drive, Suite 2700
                             Chicago, Illinois 60606
                                 (312) 984-3100

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE



======================================================================================================================
                                                        Proposed Maximum      Proposed Maximum
     Title of Securities            Amount to be         Offering Price          Aggregate             Amount of
       to be Registered             Registered(1)         per Share(2)       Offering Price(2)    Registration Fee(2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      
 Common Stock, $.01 par value       15,000 shares            $40.02               $600,300              $48.56
======================================================================================================================


(1)  Pursuant to Rule 416(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
     "Securities Act"), this Registration Statement also covers an indeterminate
     amount of interests to be offered or sold pursuant to the Kankakee Bancorp,
     Inc. 2003 Director Short Term Stock Incentive Plan.

(2)  Based on the exercise price of $40.02 pursuant to the options to be granted
     under the plan.



                                     PART I

              INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(A) PROSPECTUS

         The document(s) containing the information specified in Part I of Form
S-8 will be sent or given to participants in the Kankakee Bancorp, Inc. 2003
Director Short Term Stock Incentive Plan (the "Plan") as specified by Rule
428(b)(1) promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"Commission") under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
Act").

         Such document(s) are not being filed with the Commission, but
constitute (along with the documents incorporated by reference into the
Registration Statement pursuant to Item 3 of Part II hereof) a prospectus that
meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.

                                       I-1



                                     PART II

                     INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

Item 3.    Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference.

         The following documents previously or concurrently filed by Kankakee
Bancorp, Inc. (the "Company") with the Commission are hereby incorporated by
reference into this Registration Statement:

         (a)   The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
               December 31, 2002;

         (b)   All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
               Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"),
               since the end of the last fiscal year; and

         (c)   The description of the Company's Common Stock set forth the
               Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed with the
               Commission on September 11, 1992, is hereby incorporated by
               reference, together with all amendments or reports filed for the
               purpose of updating such description.

         All documents subsequently filed by the Company or the Plan with the
Commission pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Exchange Act,
prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
then remaining unsold, shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this
Registration Statement and to be a part thereof from the date of the filing of
such documents. Any statement contained in the documents incorporated, or deemed
to be incorporated, by reference herein or therein shall be deemed to be
modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement and the
prospectus which is a part hereof (the "Prospectus") to the extent that a
statement contained herein or therein or in any other subsequently filed
document which also is, or is deemed to be, incorporated by reference herein or
therein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or
superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to
constitute a part of this Registration Statement and the Prospectus.

Item 4.    Description of Securities.

         Not Applicable.

Item 5.    Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

         Not applicable.

Item 6.    Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

         In accordance with the Delaware General Corporation Law, Articles
Eleventh and Twelfth of the Company's Certificate of Incorporation provides as
follows:

         ELEVENTH:

               A. Each person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be
         made a party to or is otherwise involved in any action, suit or
         proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative
         (hereinafter a "proceeding"), by reason of the fact that he or she is
         or was a director or an officer of the Corporation or is or was serving
         at the request of the Corporation as a director, officer, employee or
         agent of another corporation or of a partnership, joint venture, trust
         or other enterprise, including service with respect to an employee
         benefit plan (hereinafter an "indemnitee"), whether the basis of such
         proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director,
         officer, employee or agent or in any other capacity while serving as a
         director, officer, employee or agent, shall be indemnified and held
         harmless by the Corporation to the fullest extent

                                      II-1



         authorized by the Delaware General Corporation Law, as the same exists
         or may hereafter be amended (but, in the case of any such amendment,
         only to the extent that such amendment permits the Corporation to
         provide broader indemnification rights than such law permitted the
         Corporation to provide prior to such amendment), against all expense,
         liability and loss (including attorneys' fees, judgments, fines, ERISA
         excise taxes or penalties and amounts paid in settlement) reasonably
         incurred or suffered by such indemnitee in connection therewith;
         provided, however, that, except as provided in Section C hereof with
         respect to proceedings to enforce rights to indemnification, the
         Corporation shall indemnify any such indemnitee in connection with a
         proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such indemnitee only if such
         proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by the Board of Directors
         of the Corporation.

                  B. The right to indemnification conferred in Section A of this
         Article shall include the right to be paid by the Corporation the
         expenses incurred in defending any such proceeding in advance of its
         final disposition (hereinafter an "advancement of expenses"); provided,
         however, that, if the Delaware General Corporation Law requires, an
         advancement of expenses incurred by an indemnitee in his or her
         capacity as a director or officer (and not in any other capacity in
         which service was or is rendered by such indemnitee, including, without
         limitation, service to an employee benefit plan) shall be made only
         upon delivery to the Corporation of an undertaking (hereinafter an
         "undertaking"), by or on behalf of such indemnitee, to repay all
         amounts so advanced if it shall ultimately be determined by final
         judicial decision from which there is no further right to appeal
         (hereinafter a "final adjudication"), that such indemnitee is not
         entitled to be, indemnified for such expenses under this Section or
         otherwise. The rights to indemnification and to the advancement of
         expenses conferred in Sections A and B of this Article shall be
         contract rights and such rights shall continue as to an indemnitee who
         has ceased to be a director, officer, employee or agent and shall inure
         to the benefit of the indemnitee's heirs, executors and administrators.

                  C. If a claim under Section A or B of this Article is not paid
         in full by the Corporation within sixty days after a written claim has
         been received by the Corporation, except in the case of a claim for an
         advancement of expenses, in which case the applicable period shall be
         twenty days, the indemnitee may at any time thereafter bring suit
         against the Corporation to recover the unpaid amount of the claim. If
         successful in whole or in part in any such suit, or in a suit brought
         by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to
         the terms of an undertaking, the indemnitee shall also be entitled to
         be paid the expense of prosecuting or defending such suit. In (i) any
         suit brought by the indemnitee to enforce a right to indemnification
         hereunder (but not in a suit brought by the indemnitee to enforce a
         right to an advancement of expenses) it shall be a defense that, and
         (ii) in any suit by the Corporation to recover an advancement of
         expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking the Corporation shall
         be entitled to recover such expenses upon a final adjudication that,
         the indemnitee has not met any applicable standard for indemnification
         set forth in the Delaware General Corporation Law. Neither the failure
         of the Corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal
         counsel, or its stockholders) to have made a determination prior to the
         commencement of such suit that indemnification of the indemnitee is
         proper in the circumstances because the indemnitee has met the
         applicable standard of conduct set forth in the Delaware General
         Corporation Law, nor an actual determination by the Corporation
         (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel, or its
         stockholders) that the indemnitee has not met such applicable standard
         of conduct, shall create a presumption that the indemnitee has not met
         the applicable standard of conduct or, in the case of such a suit
         brought by the indemnitee, be a defense to such suit. In any suit
         brought by the indemnitee to enforce a right to indemnification or to
         an advancement of expenses hereunder, or by the Corporation to recover
         an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking, the
         burden of proving that the indemnitee is not entitled to be
         indemnified, or to such advancement of expenses, under this Article or
         otherwise shall be on the Corporation.

                  D. The rights to indemnification and to the advancement of
         expenses conferred in this Article shall not be exclusive of any other
         right which any person may have or hereafter

                                      II-2



         acquire under any statute, the Corporation's Certificate of
         Incorporation, Bylaws, agreement, vote of stockholders or Disinterested
         Directors or otherwise.

                  E. The Corporation may maintain insurance, at its expense, to
         protect itself and any director, officer, employee or agent of the
         Corporation or another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust
         or other enterprise against any expense, liability or loss, whether or
         not the Corporation would have the power to indemnify such person
         against such expense, liability or loss under the Delaware General
         Corporation Law.

                  F. The Corporation may, to the extent authorized from time to
         time by the Board of Directors, grant rights to indemnification and to
         the advancement of expenses to any employee or agent of the Corporation
         to the fullest extent of the provisions of this Article with respect to
         the indemnification and advancement of expenses of directors and
         officers of the Corporation.

                  TWELFTH: A director of this Corporation shall not be
         personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary
         damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except for
         liability (i) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the
         Corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good
         faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of
         law, (iii) under Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law,
         or (iv) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper
         personal benefit. If the Delaware General Corporation Law is hereafter
         amended to further eliminate or limit the personal liability of
         directors, then the liability of a director of the Corporation shall be
         eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware
         General Corporation Law, as so amended.

         Any repeal or modification of the foregoing paragraph by the
         stockholders of the Corporation shall not adversely affect any right or
         protection of a director of the corporation existing at the time of
         such repeal or modification.

         The Company also carries Directors' and Officers' liability insurance
in the amount of $7.0 million.

Item 7.    Exemption from Registration Claimed.

         Not Applicable.

Item 8.    Exhibits.

         See the Exhibit Index following the signature page in this Registration
Statement, which Exhibit Index is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 9.    Undertakings.

         (a)      The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

                  (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
         being made, a post-effective amendment to the Registration Statement to
         include: (i) any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the
         Securities Act; (ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
         arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement which,
         individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the
         information set forth in the Registration Statement; and (iii) any
         material information with respect to the plan of distribution not
         previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material
         change to such information in the Registration Statement, provided
         however, that provisions (i) and (ii) of this undertaking are
         inapplicable if the information to be filed thereunder is contained in
         periodic reports filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13 or 15(d)
         of the Exchange Act and incorporated by reference into the Registration
         Statement.

                                      II-3



                  (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under
         the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed
         to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered
         therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be
         deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

                  (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
         amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at
         the termination of the offering.

         (b)      The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for
purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of
the Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

         (h)      Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provision, or otherwise, the
registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the
Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or
controlling person in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding)
is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with
the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of
its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a
court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by
it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be
governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                      II-4



                                   SIGNATURES

         In accordance with the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the
Registrants certify that they have reasonable grounds to believe that they meet
all of the requirements of filing on Form S-8 and have duly caused this
Registration Statement to be signed on their behalf by the undersigned,
thereunder duly authorized, in the City of Kankakee, State of Illinois, on May
1, 2003.

                                      KANKAKEE BANCORP, INC.

                                      By:      /s/ Carol Hoekstra
                                         ---------------------------------------
                                               Carol Hoekstra
                                               Principal Executive Officer

                                      By:      /s/ Ronald J. Walters
                                         ---------------------------------------
                                               Ronald J. Walters
                                               Vice President and Treasurer

                                      KANKAKEE BANCORP, INC. 2003 DIRECTOR
                                      SHORT TERM STOCK INCENTIVE PLAN

                                      By:   KANKAKEE BANCORP, INC.

                                               By: /s/ Carol Hoekstra
                                                  ------------------------------
                                                   Carol Hoekstra
                                                   Principal Executive Officer

                                      II-5



                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

         Know all men by these presents, that each person whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Michael A. Griffith, his or her true and
lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and
re-substitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any
and all capacities to sign any or all amendments (including post-effective
amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to file the same, with all
exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and
agent, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing
requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all
intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying
and confirming all that said attorney-in-fact and agent, or his substitute or
substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

         In accordance with the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement was signed by the following persons in the capacities
indicated on May 1, 2003.

                        Signature                                     Title

               /s/ Michael A. Griffith                     Chairman and Director
               -----------------------------------------
               Michael A. Griffith

               /s/ Brenda L. Baird                         Director
               -----------------------------------------
               Brenda L. Baird

               /s/ William Cheffer                         Director
               -----------------------------------------
               William Cheffer

               /s/ Mark L. Smith                           Director
               ------------------------------------
               Mark L. Smith

               /s/ Wesley E. Walker                        Director
               -----------------------------------------
               Wesley E. Walker

                                      II-6



                             KANKAKEE BANCORP, INC.

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX
                                       TO
                         FORM S-8 REGISTRATION STATEMENT



                                                            Incorporated
                                                             Herein by                   Filed
   Exhibit No.               Description                    Reference to               Herewith
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         
       4.1          Certificate of Incorporation    Exhibit 3.1 to the
                    of Kankakee Bancorp, Inc.       Company's registration
                                                    statement on Form S-1 filed
                                                    with the Commissioner on
                                                    September 11, 1992

       4.2          Bylaws of Kankakee Bancorp,     Exhibit 3.2 to the
                    Inc.                            Company's registration
                                                    statement on Form S-1 filed
                                                    with the Commissioner on
                                                    September 11, 1992
       5.1          Opinion of Barack Ferrazzano                                           X
                    Kirschbaum Perlman &
                    Nagelberg LLC

       10.1         Kankakee Bancorp, Inc. 2003                                            X
                    Director Short Term Stock
                    Incentive Plan

       23.1         Consent of McGladrey &                                                 X
                    Pullen, LLP

       23.2         Consent of Barack Ferrazzano                                  Included in
                    Kirschbaum Perlman &                                          Exhibit 5.1
                    Nagelberg LLC

       24.1         Power of Attorney                                             Included on the
                                                                                  Signature Page to
                                                                                  this Registration
                                                                                  Statement


                                       E-1