Rotary food drive aims to fill pantries for summer
By EL CONQUISTADOR
Support for local food pantries tends to peak during the holiday season, but the need remains year-round. For the next two weeks, members of the Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary are asking the public to drop off donations at one of 17 businesses participating in a food drive.
“The Sunrise Rotary Club has done a food drive for many years, and like many organizations, we had concentrated around the holidays,” Rotarian Norm Gross said. “We realized the food pantries run out mid-year, and this is a constant need.”
Each of the collection sites has set up a bin to accept donations of nonperishable food, baby items and checks made out to the Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary.
After the drive ends on June 29, the donations will be split, with half going to The Salvation Army food pantry, which supports families throughout the county, and half going to the Sycamore United Methodist Church food pantry, which supports residents of Sycamore.
The Sycamore food pantry served 126 families in May, 16 more than it served in May 2009, coordinator Vicki Stevens said. She expects the number to rise throughout the summer; the pantry served 166 families last June and 172 last August.
“There is a big need in the summer because kids are home from school, so they’re not getting those subsidized breakfasts and lunches they get during the school year,” she said. “We see an increase in mothers and children coming in this time of year because they’ve been relying on those meals provided by the schools.”
