A parade where the idea is to GIVE food

Usually, participants in a parade throw candy to the crowd lining the route.

On Thursday, Vernon Hills Trustee Thom Koch would like to get something in return: food for local pantries.

Koch will be driving a small utility truck in the Vernon Hills High School homecoming parade. He'd like to have it filled with food, but has one request for those who donate.

"What I'm trying to do is get people to bring canned goods. I don't want them to throw them at me." he joked. He wants them to put food into the truck bed.

Deerpath Drive will be blocked off at 6 p.m. for the parade, which gets under way at 6:15 p.m. in Cherokee Park. Phillip and Fairway drives and Lakeview Parkway will close as the parade proceeds to the high school. A pep rally is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., with fireworks at 8:15 p.m. at Rust-Oleum Field. A map is available at www.vernonhills.org.

The village has had food collection boxes at the high school and other locations the past week or so, and village officials were considering alternatives.

"The idea just kind of snuck up on me," Koch said of collecting food items during a parade rather than distributing them.

"With the homecoming parade, we're trying to do the reverse of what we do at the other parades," he said.

Whatever food is collected will be split between the Vernon and Libertyville township food pantries.

"This is probably the lowest time of the year, between now and when the holidays start in November," Vernon Township Supervisor Bill Peterson said of available supplies.

Peterson said there is a higher demand for food. But unlike stretches in the 1980s, the call is not coming from the unemployed whose benefits may have run out, but from women who aren't getting child support, he added.

The village also plans to have food collection boxes at its Oktoberfest celebration, 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Metra station on Route 45.