Crystal Lake school opens food pantry, free library and plants community garden

Canterbury Elementary School in Crystal Lake is offering area residents access to food, books and other essential items.

In March, the school opened a Little Food Pantry (LFP) in a 4-foot by 6-foot storage shed stocked with food, toiletries and miscellaneous items. The pantry is open year round and nearby residents may take from or contribute items to it.

Roughly 50 percent of Canterbury's student population qualifies for free and reduced lunch through the National School Lunch Program. In high poverty areas, such food pantries are set up as a means to help local residents who may have transportation or other limitations meet their everyday food and personal needs.

District 47 parent liaison Jacki Rubio, also a Canterbury parent, brought the idea to the Canterbury Community Council which is made up of parents, teachers and community members. Rachel Reynolds, Canterbury's music teacher who also serves on the committee, saw it as a way to help meet the needs of Canterbury families as well as those living in the surrounding neighborhoods.

"There is such a discrepancy between neighborhoods in Crystal Lake," Reynolds said. "We felt the LFP might help bridge the gap."

Reynolds had been involved with various food services at First Church of Crystal Lake. She reached out to Scott Goodwin, who oversees the church's food ministry program, and enlisted his help in getting the project started.

Goodwin offered to stock the shelves with supplies until the pantry becomes self-sustaining. Supplies also were donated by Canterbury staff and parents and the Canterbury parent-teacher organization purchased the housing unit for the pantry.

Currently, the pantry has nonperishable items such as canned vegetables and fruit, and personal care items, such as shampoo, conditioner and toilet paper. In future, organizers also plan to stock the shelves with seasonal items, such as chalk and bubbles for the summer, school supplies in the fall, and hats and gloves during the winter.

Reynolds said the goal of the pantry is to provide local families more of what they need closer to home.

"Transportation can be a big issue when both parents work, especially when parents work opposite shifts," she said. "We believe the LFP will help our students and families and get our neighborhoods working together. We hope it will also build community within Canterbury."

Canterbury also installed a Little Free Library this month near the front entrance to the school. The 2.5-foot by 3-foot structure provides 24-hour access to donated books for students, adults, teens, and the surrounding community. It was the brainchild of library media center director Terry Jacobsen.

Jacobsen worked with Jim Benson, a teacher at Prairie Ridge High School, to design and build the project. Benson enlisted the help of his students to construct the library and a local Boy Scout troop helped paint it.

"This project has been the collective efforts of many," Jacobsen said. "I'm hoping the library generates excitement among students and gives them some of what they want and have dreamed of. For countless others, I hope our little library offers whatever title fills their reading void and ignites a little reading fire in their brain for more."

Canterbury also planted a community vegetable garden on April 22 for Comcast Cares Day. More than 150 volunteers from the school community and Comcast worked together to create the garden.

"I'm so proud of how the various school and community organizations have come together to support our families and the broader community," Canterbury Principal Stacy Graff said. "It truly speaks to the good in people."