A Naperville-based pantry expects to triple its free food distribution to the needy and offer an expanded menu of social services when it opens a new $1.8 million facility in early 2011.
A Naperville-based pantry expects to triple its free food distribution to the needy and offer an expanded menu of social services when it opens a new $1.8 million facility in early 2011.
Loaves & Fishes, a 26-year-old food assistance group, plans to break ground this summer on a 17,000-square-foot center in an industrial area on the city’s northwest side.
“Our clients come here with a basket full of needs,” said Charles McLimans, the nonprofit agency’s executive director. “There’s the old adage that you can give a person a fish or you can teach them to fish.
“We’re going to continue to give them a fish but also we want to teach them to fish. It’s building that capacity in our clients through connecting them with programs, services and education that will help them transform their lives for the better.”
Now located in cramped quarters amid commercial and service firms near Naperville North High School, Loaves & Fishes offers staples and fresh foods to needy residents of Naperville and DuPage County.
“We’re currently serving about 40,000 and 50,000 pounds of food a week,” said McLimans. “And we’re really stressed to be able to push that amount of food out of here.”
Last month, Loaves & Fishes served around 5,000 clients. When it moves to the new facility on High Grove Lane, officials expect to accommodate 15,000 or more monthly and expand weekly distribution from fewer than 10 hours to 33 a week.
The city of Naperville has been an active supporter of Loaves & Fishes, steering federal community development block grant funds to help secure the new site and in upcoming construction.
“In 2006-07 we gave them $250,000 for the land and in 2009 we have then another $200,000 for the building construction,” said Katie Wernberg, the city’s community grants coordinator.
Separately, the city also allocates a yearly grant for food.
“There’s a misconception that there aren’t poor people here, but there are,” Wernberg said. “We also give them $50,000 a year for food programs and $10,000 for home delivery. And we refer people there, especially people who can’t make ends meet.”
McLimans said additional funds for the new facility would come from donors and other fundraising efforts.
Architects have devised a warehouse structure that stands the equivalent of two-and-a-half stories. The site features dedicated parking and room to handle semitrailer loading and unloading, now difficult at the group’s Fifth Avenue home.
While Loaves & Fishes considered plans for expansion, it also pondered its overall mission.
“We went through a strategic planning process two years ago and refined our mission and vision,” said McLimans. “We’re looking (to address) the root causes of food insecurity.”
Loaves & Fishes plans to supplement food distribution with on-site classes on nutrition and healthy eating, basic skills like financial and computer literacy and even physical and mental health screenings.
“We plan to partner with existing agencies that have programs that are already doing very good work, but making it easier for our clients — sort of the idea of a one-stop shop.”
But the core mission won’t change.
“We want to be able to provide more food to more people,” McLimans said. “So certainly the new facility will allow us to multiply our hours and multiply the amount of food we can give to people and the quality of food as well.”
