Everyday Heroes 2019: Karen Munter

Karen Munter has spent the past 13 years working to make sure no one in Crystal Lake goes hungry.

Hunter, of Crystal Lake, serves as vice president of the Crystal Lake Food Pantry, 42 East St.

“It’s an opportunity to give back to the community and impact the community,” Hunter said. “I feel like there’s times in all of our lives when we may need to benefit from the services our community offers. In order to provide the best services for our community, especially those in need, I wanted to be a part of that transformation. I want to support our neighbors in need.”

Although Munter has a busy schedule as resource project coordinator at the Cancer Institute at Amita Health Alexian Brothers Healthcare, she wouldn’t give up her community engagement efforts.

“I love being part of a community of people who care about others,” she said. “It’s a passion. I look forward to it.”

When asked about how it feels to be honored for her efforts, Hunter replied: “I’m humbled.”

“In my opinion, Karen represents a true Everyday Hero,” pantry President William Eich said.

Eich said the distinction is “probably long overdue” because she volunteers up to 30 hours each week at the pantry.

“She’s hardworking, caring, dedicated, extremely smart and able to work with anybody,” he said. “Her heart’s much, much bigger than it appears.”

Eich said Munter has trained hundreds of volunteers, but is not afraid of loading bins with food, composting expired items and planning future donations. He said the pantry provides essentials to about 10 percent of the Crystal Lake population.

“It’s a significant amount,” he said. “We’re even able to distribute food to other pantries in the county. We don’t just work here. We do work all over the county. That’s something she started and had to establish ways to do that, how to work with other pantries.”

Eich said the pantry distributes more than 1.5 million pounds of food annually.