FISH Food Pantry keeps hunger at bay, year-round
A frozen turkey, five pounds of potatoes, corn, dressing, and maybe a pie. Put them together and you have Thanksgiving dinner. Add up what they cost at the store, and you have a grocery bill that many families cannot afford.
When it comes to deciding whether having heat in their homes or gas in their cars is more important than food on their table, some Dundee Township residents are forced to turn to their neighbors to feed their families on the holidays and every other day of the year. Fortunately in Dundee Township, residents gladly meet the challenge of feeding the hungry through the Carpentersville-based FISH Food Pantry.
"There really is a year-round demand for food," said Mary Graziano, FISH president. "Every month, we'll see an average of 550 families at our doorstep. When you consider each family has about five people in it, this community regularly feeds more than 2,000 of their neighbors."
That's what she and pantry volunteers are thankful for this year and every year. In the more than two decades the pantry has been open, residents have donated enough food and money, so volunteers have never been forced to turn away anyone, she said.
Giving money and holding food drives for FISH have become part of the fabric in Dundee Township. Churches and schools have year-round drives. Planners of special events, such as the Halloween party in West Dundee, urge revelers to bring food donations to get a head start on the holiday demand.
Even lucky residents who win frozen turkey, ducks and hams at the seasonal meat raffles keep the pantry in mind.
"We'll probably donate more than 40 turkeys and hams this year," said West Dundee firefighter Jeff Bober.
Bober is the president of the West Dundee Firefighters' Association, which has been sponsoring a Thanksgiving meat raffle for decades. When the prizes are a case of turkeys, a turkey and a ham, or a turkey and a duck, some of the winnings usually go to the pantry.
"People just take what they need and donate the rest," he said.
And that's a good thing because pantry volunteers do not have the money or freezer space to buy turkeys for all their clients. The donated turkeys and hams go out as soon as they receive them from the raffles or from people who traditionally buy two, one for their families and one for FISH.
The same generosity is true for area gardeners. Dundee Township residents will plant carrots tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and peppers in the spring and in late summer when they harvest their gardens, some of the vegetables will be donated to FISH.
Along with food, FISH volunteers depend on monetary donations to buy perishable items, such as milk and cheese, from the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Some of the money pays the pantry's utility bills.
FISH is located in the Meadowdale Shopping Center, along Route 25. It dispenses not only food but toiletries, such as toothpaste, bath soap and diapers.
"People have always been good to, us so we have enough food. At times, we run low on toiletries, but neighbors help us meet that demand too," Graziano said.
Pantry hours are 9:30-11:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesdays. The pantry will be closed the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and the Friday after Thanksgiving.