Shopping cart brigade pushes to end hunger

As families toting sunscreen and folding chairs prepare for Fourth of July festivities, Bob Barnshaw encourages people to toss one more essential in their bag.

A canned food item.

It’ll come in handy when Barnshaw and the St. Matthew’s Shopping Cart Brigade parade down Main Street in the Wheaton Fourth of July Parade.

For more than 30 years the Shopping Cart Brigade has been out to beat hunger. Volunteers from St. Matthew United Church of Christ march in the parade, collecting food donations from the crowds along the route.

The parade steps off at 10 a.m. Monday, July 4. Roughly 25 members of St. Matthew United Church of Christ in Wheaton will take to Main Street to spread the word about food insecurity in DuPage County.

Though there’s no need to be a professional shopping cart pusher to join in the effort.

“Would you believe me if I told you we’ve started practicing already and by the time of the parade we’ll be like a professional precision drill team?” said Barnshaw, who serves as Shopping Cart Brigade coordinator. “That’s not true.”

The volunteers will congregate at 8:30 a.m. the morning of the parade for a one-time practice and to review some of the group’s crowd-pleasing tactics.

“I think the people usually like the routines,” Barnshaw said. “The real thing about it is that it’s nice because the kids bring food to the parade.”

Overall Barnshaw sees the routine as a fun way to make a big difference within the community.

Each year over Fourth of July weekend, more than 70,000 people flock to Wheaton’s parade and fireworks display, allowing St. Matthew’s to collect an entire truckload of donated food items and close to $900 in donations in past years.

“You actually get to see how your money is being used to help other people and how much there really is,” Barnshaw said. “You don’t realize how much people contribute to different things.”

The group encourages individuals to bring canned goods and nonperishable food items to toss into the group’s shopping carts as they whiz by.

The long-running parade also will feature close to 60 other participating organizations, including the Chicago Corvette Club, War of 1812 re-enactors and Four Star Brass Band.

“Along with the responsibility of the parade also comes the responsibility for the fireworks,” said Cathy Hetrick, Wheaton Park District marketing and special events coordinator. “At a time when lots of other towns are discontinuing theirs, we feel that it’s important to keep the tradition of celebrating the Fourth of July and our country’s independence going.”

Jane Hodgkinson, executive director of Western DuPage Special Recreation Association, will lead parade entries as the 2011 parade marshal.

“The parade itself, I know just from living here a longtime, is a great tradition,” Hetrick said. “People will put their lawn chairs out on the parade route the day before because there are families that sit in the exact same spot every year.”

For St. Matthew United Church of Christ, the effort to fight hunger and raise awareness throughout DuPage County encompasses the entire community.

The truck used to carry donated food items as well as the shopping carts are donated by Home Depot, and all food items collected will be divided between the Interfaith Food Pantry and the People’s Resource Center.

So pick up the pasta and collect the cans because the St. Matthew Shopping Cart Brigade is coming to town.

If you go

What: Wheaton Fourth of July Parade

When: 10 a.m. Monday, July 4

Where: Along Main Street in downtown Wheaton

Cost: Free

Info: wheatonparkdistrict.com; call Bob Barnshaw at (630) 336-2147 to join the Shopping Cart Brigade