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Bringing Food to Those Who Need It
Mar. 26th, 2019 10:13 amYesterday afternoon, several of my fellow Rotarians and I helped feed people right here in DuPage County. Specifically, we worked with the West Suburban Food Pantry to help staff their community mobile pantry. This is a custom-built truck that goes out to various places in the service area, sets up and delivers free groceries to people who need it.
The specific vehicle we used was owned by the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and apparently is scheduled out to this pantry for three Mondays a month. Northern Illinois Food Bank does "food rescue" which is getting food from grocery stores and distributors which is safe and edible but not salable. For example, at the event I saw a lot of frozen boxed meals where the box had a bit of wear or tear on it. We had a skid full of oranges in bags. We had bags of very small onions. Again, it was edible but most of us wouldn't buy it in a store.
Our event was held locally, at the Hinsdale Lake Terrace Apartments. Despite the ritzy name, it's a sprawling lower-income complex in unincorporated DuPage County. There's no grocery store nearby - in fact there's very little retail of any kind nearby. Most residents have cars because they have to, but getting to a store or a pantry could be an issue.
In any event, the truck rolled in at 3:30, we set up tables and food, and residents started getting stuff at 4. The West Suburban Pantry has a go-shopping program in which clients are allowed to select what they want and need from what's available. We had a rush right at 4, then it died down enough we cut some volunteers loose at 5:15. Finally we closed up shop at 6, having fed 40+ people. It was a good event.
The specific vehicle we used was owned by the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and apparently is scheduled out to this pantry for three Mondays a month. Northern Illinois Food Bank does "food rescue" which is getting food from grocery stores and distributors which is safe and edible but not salable. For example, at the event I saw a lot of frozen boxed meals where the box had a bit of wear or tear on it. We had a skid full of oranges in bags. We had bags of very small onions. Again, it was edible but most of us wouldn't buy it in a store.
Our event was held locally, at the Hinsdale Lake Terrace Apartments. Despite the ritzy name, it's a sprawling lower-income complex in unincorporated DuPage County. There's no grocery store nearby - in fact there's very little retail of any kind nearby. Most residents have cars because they have to, but getting to a store or a pantry could be an issue.
In any event, the truck rolled in at 3:30, we set up tables and food, and residents started getting stuff at 4. The West Suburban Pantry has a go-shopping program in which clients are allowed to select what they want and need from what's available. We had a rush right at 4, then it died down enough we cut some volunteers loose at 5:15. Finally we closed up shop at 6, having fed 40+ people. It was a good event.
