Food Pantry a Community Collaboration

There's no sign on the building's exterior, no outward clue to tip off the casual observer.

But inside the St. Francis de Sales Ministry Center at 135 S. Buesching Road is a door near the first-floor entrance that leads to aisles of food, fully-stocked refrigerators and stainless steel freezers brimming with groceries.

And every Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning, the space also is full of volunteers, busily unpacking and sorting donations and stocking shelves. On Thursday nights, people in need of a few bags of free groceries pack the place, taking home sustenance in the form of meat, vegetables, cereal and cheese.

The St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry, a charitable organization that's been helping to feed the community's needy since 1972, is perhaps one of Lake Zurich's best-kept secrets.

"We've run into people who were about literally starving and didn't know there was a food pantry right around the corner," said Jim Westney, the volunteer who's been overseeing the pantry's operation for the past two years.

While the food pantry's existence may not be obvious to the passersby, more people, these days, are seeking the help it can provide, Westney said. Many come to the pantry via referral from social and government agencies, he said.

Westney said the numbers of families seeking goods from the pantry have climbed as the nationwide economic downturn has deepened and dragged on.

"We started going up in counts right after 9-11 and it's never come down," he said.

Each year, he said, numbers also seem to surge during the colder months. Westney said the pantry served about 150 families each week during the summer months. During the last week of September, he said, 187 families sought food from the pantry. By mid-winter, he expects the number of weekly pantry visitors to top 200.

The pantry gets its stock from a number of sources.  Donations come from individuals, corporations, charitable and service organizations, schools and area grocery retailers and wholesalers.

The pantry also is served by Feeding America, a nationwide hunger-relief charity.

"We're part of that through the Northern Illinois Food Bank," he said.

Westney said the government sends surplus items to the pantry.

"This month, it's chickens, beef roasts, cheeses, blueberries, corned beef, stew and canned pears," he said.

The pantry is unusual in that its services are available to any Illinois resident, not just those that live in close proximity to the premises, said Westney.

While most of those who rely on the pantry's food supplies to weather tough times are from the Lake Zurich, Wauconda and Palatine areas, he said, a fair amount of people from Elgin, Chicago, Hebron and Carpentersville use it.

"We have one address from as far south as Peoria," he said.

John Davis, of Lake Zurich, a food import business retiree, was at the pantry on  a recent Thursday afternoon, stocking shelves and supervising a handful of fellow volunteers' efforts.

"I do the set-up, space allocation," Davis said, explaining that the shelves were pre-stocked by high school-age volunteers the previous Saturday. "This keeps me occupied. I stay active and that's very important to me."

Davis straightened shelves stacked with canned vegetables and fruits before he ventured to the back room, where two volunteers sorted and packaged rolls and loaves of bread. On Thursday nights, he said, between 25 and 40 volunteers typically show up to help with food distribution.

After opening one refrigerator to reveal dozens of packages of frozen chicken donated by local supermarkets, Davis made his way back to the main pantry area where coolers full of fresh produce stood next to the government-issue shelves.

When families visit the pantry on Thursday nights, he said, seniors and disabled people "shop" first, when the pantry opens about 6:15 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. Others may "shop" next, he said.

"Obviously, there are popular items," he said, adding that macaroni-and-cheese mixes probably top the list as the most popular item. Chicken noodle soup and canned fruits also are always in high demand, he said.

"We're called a client choice pantry," Westney said. "That means people can choose what they want."

Westney said the pantry also offers toiletries, such as shampoo, and paper products -- items that aren't available through government assistance programs.

Individuals interested in donating are welcome to do so, he said.  Small-sized items work out better, logistically, than large-sized packages. And there is one thing the pantry currently does not need: peanut butter. To donate or volunteer, e-mail vincentdepaulpantry@gmail.com.

"We get a lot of peanut butter from the government," Westney said.

The pantry will offer whatever items have been donated, provided the items aren't past the expiration date. And that includes delicacies.

Davis couldn't stifle a chuckle when fellow volunteer Kathleen Murray, of Hawthorn Woods, reached into a bag of donated items and pulled out a small can. Her eyes grew wide when she read the label.

"Excuse me," Murray said to Davis, "where does the caviar go?"