OAK PARK FOOD PANTRY
A HISTORY
By: Patricia C. Koko
Administrative Secretary and
former Food Pantry Manager.
In the early 1970's (there is no one who can accurately date the exact
beginning date since both major principal founders are dead). However, Joe Savino, Executive Director of
Youth Services at Oak Park Township and Patricia Funk, a local Girl Scout
leader, realized that there were increasing numbers of folks who were “making
the rounds” to both local Churches and local agencies trying to get additional
food for them selves or their families.
There were also other folks who seemed to be in need but unsure of whom
to approach. They decided a central
food pantry made sense and approached Rev. David Scott, Pastor, Faith United
Methodist Church who agreed to provide space in the corner of a classroom.
The Food Pantry then solicited food from groups known to both Pat and
Joe and were open one evening per week to help whoever needed help.
Soon, Rev. Scott, suggested that the process needed to be formalized
and approached the Community of Churches (former name) to sponsor the Food
Pantry and “The Hunger Task Force Food Pantry”(HTF) of the Community of
Churches was formed. This gave the effort
two really important basics. One, it
was part of a 501 (c)(3) agency and could accept tax exempt donations and two,
it had a large group to both serve and collect food for the pantry. It was also
decided that anyone who lived in Oak Park or River Forest as well as
“registered” members of Oak Park and River Forest Churches was eligible to
receive food. No one would be turned away as long as they had a legitimate
referral form.
Pretty soon, it began to be accepted as a community agency and
additional groups (e.g., Girl and Boy Scouts, Schools, businesses, etc.) began
to collect and bring food to the “pantry” and more and more people began to be
referred. After about two years, it seemed like a great idea to provide a
special meal for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. This was done for all families and individuals referred by social
workers and church leaders. That’s how
and when I got involved. As a social service worker for St. Catherine- St.
Lucy, I referred the needy from our Parish and coordinated the pick up of the
food and delivery to the families.
After a couple of full holiday distributions and after the following
year’s Thanksgiving...Pat Funk decided she didn’t want to continue to
coordinate the Christmas delivery. Joe Savino asked me to help out and I did.
(1978?)
Seventeen or eighteen years later, I stepped down from the position of
Food Pantry Manager. During all that
time, lots of things happened. In 1992,
the Community of Churches expanded to become the Community of Congregations.
This added additional faith-based congregations to the pool of active food/fund
raisers to the Food Pantry organization.
It also gave us a new pool of possible volunteers.
The pantry began to operate out of its own room at Faith Methodist and
opened on
Saturday mornings instead of Wednesday night. Formal referral forms were designed and shared with all social
workers and churches. Regular food
drives were organized and the Christmas distributions were supplemented by
gifts for the children in the referred needy families.
Joe solicited money from local groups to purchase gifts from Toys-R-Us,
Venture, Sears, etc. which were packaged to go with each family’s food
“basket”. This probably began in the
late 1970's and has grown to the program which today is known as the “Holiday
Food and Gift Basket Program.”
Gifts for the children began to be gifts for family members and
solicitation was increased to school groups and individual families who wanted
to “adopt” needy families and provide them with special gifts. In addition to families, groups adopted senior
citizens and groups began to form to deliver to the senior citizens in the
local senior buildings.
For the Thanksgiving and Christmas distributions, turkeys and chickens,
milk and bread were purchased to
supplement the non-perishable food.
Food was collected from mid-October through the entire holiday
season. Faith Methodist virtually gave
up it’s entire building to the effort as numbers grew from year to year. One year, a pastor suggested that using the
pews might make our job easier and from that holiday until we moved from their
building, we filled the pews, aisles and fellowship room with paper bags of
food. Money collected all year long was used to purchase food in bulk from the
wholesale market to supplement collected food. Now there are so many families
to help (570 in 2002) that no location is available to organize, sort and
distribute non-perishable food to them. So we must raise funds in order to
provide Food Certificates for Thanksgiving and additional funds to provide a
meat entree (such as canned ham) for the December holiday.
Someone donated a chest freezer and some metal shelving which are still
being used. In 1985 the Chicago Bears
won the Super Bowl and produced the “Super Bowl Shuffle.” The money raised from sales was given to the
Chicago Community Trust and food programs were invited to apply for grants for
equipment. We asked for and received
two standard refrigerators with large top freezers. These, also still in use, allowed us to obtain cold but not
frozen food. So we joined the Greater
Chicago Food Depository and got not only food but USDA surplus which included
butter and cheese.
In 1996, Alyce Bode, volunteered to take over the day to day operations
of the Food Pantry as I moved to a job in the Loop. Her first major duty was to find a new home for the Pantry as the
congregation which was Faith United Methodist had combined with Trinity United
Methodist in Chicago. They closed both
congregations and re-opened as Cornerstone United Methodist. They sold Trinity and used the money to
remodel the Church building. They also
expanded their mission to include a day care program and unfortunately, there
was no room for the Pantry. Alyce found
a rental space when no local commercial property manager nor congregation could
come up with free space for us. Our
rent is $600 a month for our small storefront space at 225 B South Blvd.
Over the last two years the numbers have increased, from averaging
25-30 to 35-40 households weekly. Most
recipients (not necessarily in this order) are: seniors on fixed incomes; many
working moms; and, some single men that have illnesses, preventing them from
securing stable employment.
Low/moderate income and residency in Oak Park or River Forest or registration
in a local congregation are still prerequisites. Many local
social service agencies, school social workers, Township General
Assistance and the Senior Services, and, especially Suzanne Vestuto (a stalwart
volunteer for many years) for the VOP, as well as clergy from as the various
congregations are among those who refer
recipients. An individual or
family is entitled to receive a referral slip once a month.
The entire operation is staffed by volunteers and funded by
donations. 3-5 volunteers are
scheduled each Saturday year 'round. There are a few other volunteers that take
responsibility for a few specific tasks, such as collecting day-old items at
Oak Park Bakery; ordering, picking up, and delivering cases of food from the
Greater Chicago Food Depository at a very low cost to us; stocking shelves;
cleaning the pantry; data reports on recipients, etc. Financial donations vary from monthly collections by
congregations, individuals and businesses.
Parties have been held that creatively request food donations instead of
presents. Block parties, school and organizations hold special collections.
We are always in need of cleaning and laundry supplies, toiletries (shampoo and conditioner,
toothbrushes & paste, deodorant), juices and canned fruits and jellies (we
usually have the peanut butter.) Another great contribution, are the freebies
from travelers, like coffee supplies and the tiny toiletry bottles. Food drives can occur any time.
The Hunger Task Force Food Pantry can probably best be described as a “community bank into which deposits of food/money are made and from which withdrawals can be made when there is a need.” There are so many stories which give this skeleton description life. Our community food pantry has helped so many over its nearly 30 years of existence. Many who have been helped over time have become supporters of the pantry. We fully expect that it will continue to help families in our community for years to come.