Twenty six local volunteers, 8 from Rotary, 5 from St. Mary's St. Vincent DePaul Society and 13 from the Grafton pantry unloaded and bagged enough groceries from the Northern Illinois Food Bank's Mobile Food Pantry for an estimated 250 people on hand. The group was probably a cross section of people left behind in a so-far lackluster recovery from the Great Recession.
A single mom of five from Lake in the Hills named Debbie lost her job to productivity gains. "I'm trying to find a job," she said. "I used to work at (a supermarket) but I got laid off when they put in (self-checkout) scanners."
A Woodstock electrician named Jerry was a victim of the real estate bust. "I used to work 40 or 50 hours a week Downtown," he said. "Now there's nothing there. There's no new construction going on."
A 79 year-old Huntley resident named Ed is having trouble with retirement. "My heart operation cost $79,000," he said. "My wife's was $163,000." He said he's gone back to work part-time to try to pay off the surgeries.
The Grafton Food Pantry on Smith Drive, Huntley, helps feed 500 to 600 people per month on average these days. Shopping hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 4 pm.
Donation dropoff hours are Tuesday and Thursday 9 am to 2 pm and Monday, Wednesday and Friday Noon to 4 pm.
4 comments:
Many thanks to the Rotary and Grafton Food Pantry on Smith Drive in Huntley. You continue to serve our community with honor and sincere care.
While it's a great thing the Food Pantry is doing, I think the editor shouldn't be putting up a picture of the unfortunate that need the service.
How else would you know how many need help? It is not by accident that I shot from the rear.--ed.
How many are from carpenters ville which is usually the case? Does laporta know there are 2 food pantries in huntley? Oh wait that would make it look like Linda Moore is doing something good. He sure wouldn't want to do that.
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