Overflowing Gardens Help Fill Local Food Pantries

With Summer drawing to a close stocks at local food pantries are getting skimpy.  Meanwhile local vegetable gardens are bursting, a good thing since the pantries can use produce donations.

"We've got a lot of holes.  We're really hurting," said Alice Hallett Wednesday as she bustled to help customers at the Grafton Food Pantry.  With school out and families out of town on vacation donations of canned and boxed food have dropped even though demand hasn't.

"Cereal!  We need breakfast cereal.  Right now you can have your choice of crispy rice, crispy rice or crispy rice," Hallett said.  Pasta, spaghetti sauce, and canned vegetables are also in short supply, she said.

Fresh veggies are a welcome treat when they're available, though. "It comes and goes," said Hallett.  "It's tomato season and those have been doing pretty good. The squash are starting to come in.  I haven't seen any corn; we had corn last year."

All three local food pantries told FEN they'd be happy to accept garden donations during regular hours or maybe a little bit ahead of each day's open since the stuff isn't called "perishables" for nothing. Here are their hours and locations:

Grafton Food Pantry, 12191 Smith Drive (off Kreutzer), Huntley. Mon, Wed & Fri 1-4pm.  Phone 847-495-0922.

Faith Community Church Food Pantry, 10547 Faiths Way (off Haligus), LITH.  Wed. 4-7pm. Phone 224-569-6501 ext.3.

Algonquin/Lake in the Hills Interfaith Food Pantry, 600 E. Oak Street, LITH.  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30am to Noon; first and Third Saturdays each month, 9:30 am to Noon.  Phone: 847-854-1904.

Hallett said Sun City gardeners have provided a lot of the produce for her pantry.  "The Del Webbers have been very good to us," she said.

In the pic: Volunteer Alice Hallett shows off some cukes and squash that came in Wednesday at the Grafton Food Pantry.