Officials hail Northern Illinois Food Bank expansion

Ten years ago, Northern Illinois Food Bank President and CEO H. Dennis Smith learned through the helping hands of a little boy the importance of feeding the hungry.

Smith was delivering bread trays stacked with sandwich bags to a resource center in Villa Park when he encountered a little boy and his sister sitting on the steps. As Smith began to unload the trays, the little boy asked if he could help carry them. The boy received permission from resource center staff and Smith let him haul what he could inside.

"When he finished, he said, 'Could my sister and I have a bag of food? We haven't eaten since yesterday,'" Smith recalled. Even at that young age, the boy was willing to do his part to make sure he and his sister could survive another day.

"I thought as I walked out of there, prior to that moment we had let red tape in the program that's federally funded be an impediment toward making a big program," Smith said. "We were feeding 50 kids a day in four locations. Today, we feed 4,600 kids at 106 sites. Part of the motivation that will make you work harder when you're working to help your hungry neighbors is to look them in the eye. Food promised tomorrow does nothing to quell the hunger pangs of today."

For the Northern Illinois Food Bank, working harder to quell those hunger pangs means growing as an organization. That growth will occur at new facility in Geneva, allowing the organization to double the amount of food it can store and distribute.

Smith and representatives from all the food bank's major donors teamed up with local, state and federal elected officials to tour the new site Monday. They also sampled the new, healthier lunches the site will distribute to area youth.

Construction plans for the new distribution center are working their way through the city of Geneva, which has already helped the food bank secure financing for the $13 million structure. Officials expect the new facility to be constructed within the next year.