Loss of produce from farm hits pantry hard

Five tons of food disappeared in Naperville.

Poof. All gone.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of pounds of fresh produce destined for 650 families who monthly rely on the Loaves and Fishes community pantry dried up this summer when developers took over Mayneland Farms.

For the past five years, owners of the longtime farm in Naperville helped out by donating their daily surplus to the pantry, which is a drop-off site for the Daily Herald's Giving Garden program. With its help, the pantry's summer produce collection skyrocketed from around 3,750 pounds in 2000 to 14,844 pounds last year.

Now, however, Mayneland is gone. And that means the fresh garden produce that went to the children and adults who need help putting food on the table is gone, too.

Loaves and Fishes Executive Director Joanne Mitrenga said the fallout from that loss is significant.

The pantry is so short on supplies this summer that it's already having to buy food from Northern Illinois Food Bank. The loss of another five tons of food means it will have to dip even further into its financial reserves just to provide basic supplies.

When families went to Loaves and Fishes in past summers, they collected their normal bags of nonperishable goods and then were allowed to take a portion of whatever fresh fruits and vegetables were on hand that day, Mitrenga said. Not only does the produce help extend the pantry's supplies, it provides the best nutrition.

"So many of the clients don't get healthy food. They get what's cheap. It's high in sodium, high in fat," she said.

Unfortunately, while the number of items on hand is decreasing, the need is not. Last year, the pantry was serving about 500 families each month. That's gone up to about 650 this year, or roughly 2,900 family members every four weeks.

It leaves the pantry looking for help -- especially from residents who can contribute.

"There's so many needy people in Naperville," Mitrenga said. "The volume of people we have is enormous."