Volunteer Susan Edgington stands behind a low white counter at Naperville’s Loaves and Fishes Community Pantry, helping a client who has stopped in for food and other necessities.
“Here’s paper towels,” she said. “You want toilet paper? He’s getting the toilet paper from the back. Would you like apples and carrots?”
As the client nods his assent to most questions, other volunteers move about in a large storeroom behind Edgington, rounding up food and personal care items. In the pantry’s front area, other clients do their “shopping.” They wheel shopping baskets from one rack of packaged food to another, filling their carts with canned black-eyed peas, giant plastic bags of tomato paste, bread, rolls, pies and muffins.
During a brief break, Edgington talks about the experience of helping feed Naperville’s poor. “It surprises me how many people need help,” she said. “You think, `Naperville? People need food in Naperville?’ But there are a lot of people who really need help.”
Those who require assistance are able to find it at two Naperville food pantries: Loaves and Fishes and Calvary Food Pantry. Officials and volunteers at each say that while need exists in Naperville, so does a spirit of giving that helps fill the shelves.
Loaves and Fishes, 556 W. 5th Ave., was established in 1983. Then, the entire pantry consisted of a single shelf and a single closet in Naperville’s St. Raphael Church. It served eight families that year.
But over the years the need has grown dramatically, and so has the pantry’s size and client base. Today the pantry is housed in a 4,000-square-foot warehouse space it rents from a construction company, and serves 250 to 300 families a month.
“We try to offer a balanced diet of non-perishables,” said Katy Klepper, the pantry’s executive director for the last year and a half. “Plus we give them fresh apples and carrots each week, and meat and cheese once a month.”
Every family receives two grocery bags of non-perishable foods prepacked by volunteers. The bags contain cereal, beans, pasta, rice, canned vegetables and fruit, tuna and salmon, pancake mix and syrup, four cans of soups, two packages of dry soup, canned meat and toilet paper. Clients may add to this offering by selecting items from four racks of donated groceries, Klepper said.
These items might best be described as luxury, specialty and ethnic foods, she added. They often include such items as Starbucks coffee, Godiva chocolates, caviar and pate, refried beans, bamboo shoots and matzo balls. “It’s a great opportunity for them to do a little shopping,” Klepper said. “I enjoy their enjoyment of it. We also give them a bag and they can pick out the breads and desserts they want. We get great breads. Our breads come from Hostess, Eagle Grocery Stores and Great Harvest Bread Co. And it’s not day old, it’s fresh.”
The pantry also is prepared for families with special needs. Any family with a baby, for example, gets a sack of baby food. And those with a child who has an upcoming birthday receive what pantry workers call a “birthday box.” The box contains just about every item needed for a child’s birthday party except a gift, including cake mix, canned frosting, balloons, candles, napkins, paper plates and a birthday card.
To qualify to receive food, clients must furnish two proofs of Naperville residence, one a photo ID. Most clients satisfy this requirement by bringing in their driver’s licenses and most recent utility bills. In addition, they must sign for USDA commodities such as meat and cheese to indicate their income falls below a minimum level. Minimum incomes depend on family size, and statements of income are strictly on the honor system, Klepper said.
The pantry is open from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturdays and 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays. Clients are limited to two visits a month, one every other week. But in those months that include three Saturdays or Tuesdays, they can come three times.
“One of my jobs is to make people aware that we have a food pantry in Naperville,” Klepper said. “People are often amazed that there are enough poor people in Naperville to have a pantry. But we have over 2,000 people in our database.”
Among them are a significant number of children and older people, Klepper said. “We have a lot of elderly people, who are kind of hidden,” she said. “Some of them have just outlived their savings. [They] seem to be so grateful for everything you do for them. And there are single parents with children. [They are] the bulk of our clients. They live in apartments and houses scattered around the community.”
But Naperville is also home to a number of individuals, corporations and organizations that donate volunteer time and food, she added. “We get civic groups like Rotary and Kiwanis, we get Scout troops and church groups,” she said. “We get corporate help as well.”
For example, Prudential Insurance Co. of America held a volunteer day in October for its Chicago area employees, some of whom painted the pantry’s interior. The company also donated $1,000.
The pantry has more than 200 volunteers to supplement its paid staff of two, which consists of Klepper and Joanne Mitrenga.
Food comes from the St. Charles-based Northern Illinois Food Bank and The Hunger Connection in Rockford, and from donations by local churches, civic groups and private individuals. In addition, banks and Scout groups often stage food drives to benefit the pantry.
“Naperville is a wonderful place to run a food pantry because the residents are incredibly generous,” Klepper said.
“They think of us all the time. The people who volunteer are so wonderful. It’s the perfect blending of people and purpose. It’s also a wonderful example of thinking globally and acting locally. A lot of our volunteers are on committees concerned with world hunger, but they come and work at our pantry too.”
Among the volunteers is Naperville resident Dan Bagley. “It’s good work to do,” he said. “It leaves me with a good feeling that lasts all week.”
Klepper would like to enlarge the pantry’s home delivery program to seniors, which now serves 30 older people but could serve more than 150 additional ones. “The poor are always with us,” she said.
The other food pantry in Naperville is Calvary Food Pantry, 129 W. Benton Ave., which is operated by Naperville’s Calvary Church. Open 9 to 11 a.m. Thursdays, the pantry serves only residents of Naperville and Aurora, and feeds 80 to 100 families, or about 400 people, a month, volunteer Kyle Schumpp said.
Clients receive boxes of non-perishable food packed by volunteers. The boxes are filled with such items as macaroni and cheese, cereals, canned goods, tuna and bread. When available, they can also receive fresh vegetables and meat. “The fresh vegetables we get in the summertime, from a farm on New York Street in Aurora,” Schumpp said.
Clients visiting the pantry go through a registration process, then meet with a counselor for a 5- to 15-minute counseling session, Calvary Church Pastor Trev Mahoney said.
They then receive two tickets and go to the basement level of the building, where they can use one ticket for food and the other to obtain clothing donated by parishioners.
Clients can visit the pantry four times a year, and no proof of income is required, Schumpp said.
“People just think everyone in Naperville is rich, and that’s not true,” she said. “I know there are a lot more people who could come, but they don’t feel they’re needy, or they don’t want people to know. There are a lot of people who have lost jobs because of cutbacks … or there are medical problems.”
Food distributed to clients is obtained from the Northern Illinois Food Bank and donations by Calvary Church parishioners. About 20 to 25 volunteers, all of whom are members of the Calvary Church congregation, staff the pantry.
Schumpp said she hopes there will come a day when a food pantry isn’t required in Naperville, but doesn’t think that’s realistic. “There’s always going to be a need,” she said.
Food pantries
– Loaves and Fishes Community Pantry: 565 W. 5th Ave., Naperville, 630-355-3663.
Open 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and 9 to 11 a.m. Saturdays.
– Calvary Food Pantry: 129 W. Benton Ave., Naperville, 630-851-7000.
Open 9 to 11 a.m. Thursdays.
