The Crystal Lake Food Pantry Board chose the site for its central location and because it lies along a PACE bus-line and within walking distance of a train station.

Crystal Lake Food Pantry has found a new home at 42 East Street.

Marguerite Grealish, a Food Pantry board member, said their current site seemed “so incredibly spacious when we first moved in,” it seems impossible that they’ve outgrown it in four years.

That will change when it moves into a new facility at 42 East St.

In 2015 the Crystal Lake Food Pantry served an average of 509 families each month. The new site is 30,000 square feet, while the current facility is 3,000 square feet. The committee chose the site for its central location and because it lies along a PACE bus-line and within walking distance of a train station.

The East Street location will initially serve the hungry of Crystal Lake and those people who are members of 20 churches that make Crystal Lake Food Pantry Board. Although many organizations and business support the Food Pantry, it is run solely by the 20 churches.

Once the East Street facility is operational, the goal is to expand its role in the community.

With loading docks and truck bays, the East Street facility can receive and efficiently distribute more food to the community.

“The ultimate goal is to serve all of McHenry County as a hub for the other food pantries,” said Grealish. This will enable all of the county food pantries to purchase more efficiently and to have dry, cold and freezer storage area.

During the summer, individuals and organizations donate fresh produce to be distributed to the hungry.

Fresh Thyme, Fresh Market, Josephs, Jewel, Target, and Walmart all donate a variety of food:  produce, meat, canned products, cereal, depending on what surplus they have. Some local restaurants also donate food. For example, one local restaurant donates 100 pounds of pasta to the Food Pantry each month.

“New legislation will require grocers to be more vigilant about not wasting food,” said Grealish. The Food Recovery Act of 2015, intended to decrease food waste, includes a farm storage facility loan program, the charitable tax deduction for contributions of food inventory by restaurants, donations by retail food stores, funds to cover the Emergency Food Assistance Program storage and distribution costs, creation of the Office of Food Recovery, food donations by executive agencies and Congress, the farm to school grant program, and modification of the National School Lunch Program.

A floor plan of the new building.

The East Street facility improvements are modeled after a facility in Naperville. Visitors will shop as they would in a grocery store. Each client will be allotted an amount of food, by weight, based on their family size.

“We’ll have shelves of products, big open aisle, and areas where produce is displayed,” said Grealish. “The freezers and coolers will be back-loaded with doors opening in the aisles for clients.”

A prep station, will help volunteers prepare and clean produce so it can be set up displayed properly.

The new site will help reduce waste through reclaiming and repackaging produce and eggs, therefore offering more nutritious options to the clients. In the past year, the Crystal Lake Food Pantry had to turn away more than 50,000 pounds of nutritious food, simply because there was not enough freezer and cooler space to store it.

Grealish is quick to point out that most of the Food Pantry clients are working and trying to make ends meet.

“It must be so hard to walk through the doors and be recognized as someone who can’t adequately provide for thier family.”

Children make up 37 percent of the clients served by the Food Bank. According to the Northern Illinois Food Bank, in the 13 counties it serves, 77 percent of households had to choose between paying for food and utilities in the past 12 months, 62 percent had to choose between paying for food and housing.

A chilling statistic, 1-in-7 families in Northern Illinois rely on Northern Illinois Food Bank and its network of community feeding programs.

Although 77 percent of the Food Bank clients in Northern Illinois are employed, Grealish tells of a woman who picked through what the Food Pantry offered, taking only dry goods and packaged food.

“She said she lived in the woods and had no place to keep fresh food,” said Grealish. “That put a face to the homeless in our county. It’s not just something that happens in Chicago or someone far away. It’s right here.”

The churches that make up the board asked their members to participate in the “Capital Campaign fund.” Businesses, banks, corporations, and individuals are pitching in to help. Several local businesses offer a “matching campaigns up to $100,000. An individual donated $50,000 to be earmarked for a refrigerated truck.

One way everyone can help is to participate in the “Put the Freeze on Hunger” campaign. Participating merchants donate a portion of the sale of ice cream to the Food Pantry.

“How easy can that be to help?” exclaimed Grealish. “Just eat ice cream!”

For a list “Put the Freeze on Hunger” and other fundraising events, go to  http://clfoodpantry.org/calendar.