Produce donations help clients struggling to get by

Everything the Giving Garden program stands for starts with the people served by food pantries throughout the area.

It's all about the clients.

Too often, those living near pantries might not even know they exist, let along understand who those agencies seeks to serve. We thought we'd help provide a little insight by chatting with a leader at just one of the sites participating in the Daily Herald's program urging gardeners to lend a hand.

Debbie Walusiak took time from her schedule to chat about the Self-Help Closet and Pantry of Des Plaines.

This is an edited transcript of our interview.

Q. Who would you say is your average client?

A. We don't have one. I always tell people they are representative of the population of Des Plaines. Many are senior citizens on fixed incomes or single parents. Some people are fairly new to this country and just getting established. A lot are under-employed people: they are working but not making enough money to make ends meet.

I think there's a preconceived notion that all of our clients are homeless and unemployed. Most of them are employed; they just aren't making enough to get by.

Q. Who qualifies and what do they receive?

A. We serve about 800 residents each month. That includes all members of a client's family.

Each family is allowed to visit the pantry once per month and receives one full grocery bag, averaging out to be a three-day supply of food. Produce clients receive from Giving Garden donations are above and beyond that monthly allotment.

To qualify, clients need three things: proof of Des Plaines residency; proof of income at 200 percent above poverty level, and a birth certificate for every child under the age of 18 still living in the household.

Q. Do most of your clients use the pantry on a long-term basis?

A. What's your definition of long? We don't set a limit. As long as they can show us they're in need, they can come. Some clients have come for years, but we're registering new families all the time. They might need to use us for a few months, then come back six months later if they need us again. Especially with seniors on a fixed income, if they don't have family they can count on they're going to need us indefinitely.

Q. What do you think is the greatest misconception people have about food pantries?

A. That we only serve the unemployed. If they've never been there, they tend to think clients are drug addicts and from a very, very low economic class.

They are just people trying to make ends meet. They just lost their job or went through a divorce or somebody in their family has medical expenses and they don't have money for other items.

Q. Do restaurants and businesses donate food?

A. Restaurants don't so much, because we're not a soup kitchen and we don't serve meals. But we work with a lot of the businesses in town that hold food drives throughout the year.

Q. When it comes to produce, what is most popular with clients? What is hardest to convince them to try?

A. Tomatoes and cucumbers are the most popular. Beets aren't, though they do eventually go. We really don't have a problem with anything; it just may move a little slower. Nothing gets thrown away.

Q. What is the biggest problem you have with donations overall?

A. People who, hopefully unintentionally, donate old food. They're cleaning out their deceased mother's pantry or helping a friend move and they're trying to help by emptying the cabinets. But a lot of times it's been sitting around for a long time and it's expired so we have to throw it out.

We really have to check carefully for dates. You have to use common sense. If it's just recently expired, like a day or week, there's nothing wrong with that. Clients sign a waiver understanding that all of our items are donated.

Q. Are there things people donate that you really can't use?

A. A lot of times we get calls from people who want to donate furniture, which we can't house, so we'll put signs out if someone wants to contact the donor.

With food, if it's more of an ethnic item that most people won't be familiar with, it is more difficult to get rid of. It goes on the miscellaneous table and some of those things sit there for a while but they eventually do go.

Q. If there's one thing you could tell the world about food pantries that you think they don't know, what would it be?

A. Please give generously because you don't know when you might need the services a pantry provides. A good percentage of our clients never anticipated being in a position of needing help.