Economic woes force more to rely on food pantries

Volunteer Deb Pratt of Lake in the Hills hands out bread Saturday to area residents during a mobile food drive at The Pointe in Crystal Lake. “Today we are able to load them [families in need] up; it just warms my heart,” Pratt said. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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As economic woes persist and jobless rates hit a 16-year high, area food pantries are seeing more people who need help feeding their families.

Northern Illinois Food Bank, a nonprofit that sells food to pantries and soup kitchens in McHenry County and 12 other counties, is anticipating that more people will need assistance this year. More than a dozen local pantries rely on the food bank to keep their shelves stocked.

The Crystal Lake Food Pantry depends on the food bank to supply nearly all of the meat it distributes to local families, pantry President Marilyn Georgy said. The pantry also buys about 20 percent of its food stock from the food bank, sometimes spending as much $8,000 to $10,000 on food purchases in a single month, she said.

“I can’t say enough about the Northern Illinois Food Bank,” Georgy said. “They are very, very helpful, not only in providing food, but also as a great educational tool.”

On Friday, the national unemployment rate stood at 7.2 percent, a 16-year-high. Here the trend is the same. McHenry County’s unemployment rate increased 0.5 percent in 2008 to 5.8 percent. Rising commodity prices for staples such as food and gasoline are compounding the problem and forcing more families to visit food pantries for the first time, said Sarah Slavenas, a spokeswoman for Northern Illinois Food Bank. 

Need for food at Crystal Lake Food Pantry was up 56 percent in July 2008 compared with the same month in 2007. Volunteers are working to determine how much need has grown since then. Georgy estimates that the pantry is serving 60 percent more people each month. And she doesn’t see things turning around soon.

“There are rough times ahead,” Georgy said.

Northern Illinois Food Bank is depending on more monetary donations as food donations dwindle, said Jarrod Daab, associate director of development for the organization. Although donors are giving less than in the past, more people are giving. Northern Illinois Food Bank has brought in more money this year, but Daab said Friday that he didn’t know exactly how much more.

Rising monetary donations have helped offset the decrease in food donations. The food bank more often is being forced to buy supplies that were donated in previous years from major food manufacturers. Economic pressures have forced the manufacturers to better control their stock, resulting in fewer excess products that then can go to the food bank and other organizations.

“Now we have to buy more food to make up the difference,” Daab said.

Local pantries buy food at significantly reduced prices from the food bank, which has much greater buying power and storage capacity than smaller organizations, Daab said.

People from all over Illinois have seen the increased need as a result of the ongoing recession and know neighbors and community members who are struggling and are helping out in kind.

“That’s really propelling people to give as much as they can,” Daab said.