A new charity food pantry is coming to Sugar Grove, born of two teenagers' concern for fellow residents and their mother's desire to get them out of her hair over Thanksgiving break.

"They were driving me crazy," Melisa Taylor said. So she suggested Madison, 12, and Danielle, 15, occupy themselves with a project similar to one they did a few years earlier, where they went door-to-door collecting gifts to send to soldiers stationed in Iraq. The girls, plus 30 other youth and 11 adults, spent two days picking up donations of food and pet supplies, which were then given to the Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry and to the Kaneland Food Pantry in Elburn. They also collected used clothing, which was distributed through local schools and shelters for the homeless.

"There are too many newbies falling into economic challenge that need food," said Taylor, who is a village trustee.

Taylor learned that the Kaneland pantry, which used to serve about 20 families a month, was now seeing 49. (It serves people who live in the Kaneland school district).

"I said, 'We have a problem here. I can't turn around and walk away from this,' " Taylor said. And since Sugar Grove is the largest municipality in the school district, she figured it was probably accounted for a lot of the patrons. "We felt that it might be fruitful to come together and start another one here."

Engineering Enterprises, 52 Wheeler Road, has donated space in its building for the pantry. The Kane County Sheriff's Department donated shelving that was due to be discarded from the old county jail.

And she and her cousin, a certified public accountant, have applied to the Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status for the pantry, so it can receive food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Volunteers have been cleaning, painting and doing electrical work. She hopes to have the pantry open by July.

"Everybody is helping. Everybody is very conscious of the economic issues," Taylor said.

To help with the effort, e-mail Taylor at taylormmt@yahoo.com, or call her at (630) 466-0345.