District 300 Food Pantry now open

Kane County's first school-based nonprofit food pantry opened Wednesday at Carpentersville Middle School.

Dubbed the District 300 Food Pantry, it will help underprivileged families within the Algonquin-based district and is expected to serve up to 500 people weekly. More than 100 families came to take as much as they needed following the official ribbon cutting ceremony.

A shipping dock behind the school was converted earlier this summer into a 900-square-foot space to house the pantry.

The pantry will be independently managed and run by volunteers. It will be open once a week, according to Lake in the Hills resident Craig Raddatz, the pantry president who lead the effort.

The $50,000 cost of building and equipping the pantry was funded partly through a competitive $35,000 grant from the Morgan Stanley Foundation as part of its multiyear commitment to Feeding America. The grant was administered through Geneva-based Northern Illinois Food Bank. Donors include the Rotary Club of Fox Valley Sunset and The Chapel in Barrington.

Representatives of donor groups and Carpentersville Village President Ed Ritter were present for the ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday before doors opened.