Church hoping mechanical bull helps feed needy

The Rev. Steven Kass, pastor at Glendale Heights' Family in Faith Lutheran Church, is cautious with the concept of fundraising.

"We ask people to support what we do, but we're very wary of asking others, outside the church, to do anything," he said.

So when an opportunity arose to help his church build a permanent food pantry on its property - in the most unlikely form of a mechanical bull ride at Glendale Heights Fest - Kass was interested but leery.

After conversations with members of the community who encouraged him to take a chance, and who offered their full support for the pantry, he eventually gave in and agreed to ask people for money.

"Reflecting on it, it made sense," he said. "There could be businesses and others that say, 'Hey, this is a worthwhile cause.'"

The ride will be featured from 6 to 11:30 p.m. Friday, July 9, on Country Night at the annual festival. It will be used as a family friendly, $5 per ride fundraising tool to help pay construction costs for the church's new facility.

"I think that's great, whenever we can help the community in some way," said Paula Sabatino, chairwoman for the committee organizing Glendale Heights Fest. "I hope it does well for them. It's a good cause."

When church leaders realized they couldn't indefinitely use the Northern Illinois Food Bank mobile pantry, which they've borrowed one day a month for the past four years, they came up with the idea of something a little more stable: a 30-by-60 foot steel food storage and distribution center.

"We basically had the option of either seeing the pantry end in Glendale Heights or doing something else," Kass said. "No one stepped up to donate a building in the community for us to do this and the village is not in a place to do it either. We've just said let's take it on ourselves to see it get done."

The church needs about $100,000 in donations to construct the building, which also will be used to store winter clothing and other essentials for the needy that will be distributed periodically. So far only $21,000 has been raised.

Church officials hope to raise a few thousand dollars from the festival while handling the tickets for the bull ride, although they are happy with any donation amount and want to assure donors that every penny will be used for the building.

"We can guarantee that everything that's received is going to go toward this," Kass said, urging people to come ride the bull "for fun and just to support the community."

The new building already has the support of many mayors from other area towns because of the church's goal to expand the amount of food it gives out. Surrounding communities that will benefit from the pantry include Carol Stream, Bloomingdale, Roselle, Addison and Glen Ellyn.

The need to provide more food has become very apparent in recent years for Don Summers, a Family in Faith Church member and volunteer for the mobile pantry.

"It's much worse now than it was three years ago when the recession started," he said. When the church began using the mobile pantry, about 50 families showed up a month. Now, anywhere between 200 and 250 families come monthly.

"I know families that had two good incomes and now the husband and wife don't have a job and they have no money coming in," Summers said. "I know three families who used to come to the pantry for food who don't come anymore because they've lost their home and they have to move to other areas. It's a sad situation out there."

Over the past five years, more than 500,000 pounds of food have been donated to more than 2,000 different families thanks to the mobile food pantry at Family in Faith. Kass and Summers hope those numbers will continue to grow with the permanent facility, especially because it will allow the church to give out food once a week, instead of monthly.

The church's access to the mobile pantry will be cut off in June 2011 due to a need for the vehicle to serve other areas. Kass is hoping the new facility will be built by May 2011.

"It's just what God tells us to do," Summers said. "It's all through scripture. It tells us to feed the poor. It's what we should be doing."

As for the bull, Summers said he'll be skipping the ride on Friday, but hopes "it's a fun night for everybody."

Other festivalgoers not willing or able to ride the bull, but who still want to help, can donate food at the church or offer monetary donations at the festival.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=391644">Glendale Heights Fest returns with music, cars and plenty of fireworks <span class="date">[7/7/10]</span></a></li>

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