Grafton food pantry gets a new home
The Grafton Township Food Pantry, a nonprofit service group at the center of a dispute over whether to build a $3.5 million township hall, has found a new home.
Huntley residents Angel and Maria Vazquez have agreed to lease space for the food pantry out of the couple's warehouse off Kreutzer Road, the pantry announced Wednesday.
Double-digit unemployment in McHenry County has strained the food pantry, which currently operates out of the township offices on Vine Street. Pantry volunteers say because of the recession and population growth, the pantry is out of space at township hall.
"We've outgrown it," food pantry President John Rossi said. "When I took over, there were only 25 families. Now we serve over 250 a month."
The food pantry's space needs were a key reason Grafton Township officials said the township needed to build new offices.
Even with that rationale now moot, supporters of building a new township hall in Lake in the Hills say they will press forward because the township itself, they say, needs more space and better facilities.
"That was not the only reason. The food pantry was not even going to be in a new building," Trustee Rob LaPorta said. "The same reasons why we saw the need to build a new building before are still there now."
Supervisor Linda Moore, who pledged to stop construction of the new hall during her successful campaign to unseat former supervisor Rossi, was coy Wednesday on whether the township still needs more space.
"That's not for me to decide," Moore said. "The taxpayers should decide."
The construction of a new township hall is on hold because of a lawsuit filed by Moore and others who say the building is not necessary.
Under a lease that is still being finalized, Rossi and his staff will have space for at least two years in the Vazquez' MLS Mailing warehouse at 11291B Smith Drive.
"He's more or less donating the space," Rossi said. "We're more or less just paying electric."
Maria Vazquez said she and her husband, who have operated MLS Mailing in Huntley for 11 years, learned the food pantry was looking for a new home when they tried to find someone to rent the warehouse space.
"We wanted to make sure it stayed within the community," Vazquez said. "It's well needed. They are doing a fantastic job just making it survive through this recession."