Mobile Food Pantry Visit At Huntley Brings More Seeking Help

It only took about an hour for more than 150 area families to the Northern Illinois Food Banks' Mobile Food Pantry at Springbrook Community Church, Huntley, Saturday.  It was the second visit by the Mobile Food Pantry this year sponsored by the Lake in the Hills Rotary Club and the Algonquin Lake in the Hills Interfaith Food Pantry. The crush of area families looking for help putting food on the table suggested doubling of Illinois Food Stamp recipients in the past three years to 1.8 million families may paint a rosier picture than really exists.

For instance, the number of Illinois families receiving food stamps has roughly doubled in the past three years to 1.8 million.  But a Carpentersville couple living on Social Security Disability said they receive Food Stamp assistance, all right, but it only amounts to $16 each month.

How did the Food Stamp program decide on sixteen dollars?

"It probably has something to do with the State, I guess," said the man.

A Huntley mom named Maria said she was going to look into Food Stamps.  She said she's got a full-time job. That places her among the 92 percent of workers who constitute the employed part of the McHenry County workforce.  "It's not a good-paying job," she said, though.  In fact, she said, her phone sales job doesn't pay enough for her family to make ends meet. "I've got to look for something better," she said.

In the pic:  Saturday's food distribution from the Mobile Food Pantry saw more people appear earlier than a similar one at Springbrook church only two months ago.