Mt. Prospect firefighters’ food drive fills bus for pantry
The Mount Prospect Fire Department and Firefighters Local 4119 had an overwhelming response to the food drive they held at Costco at Randhurst Village.
Fire Chief John Malcolm and members of the fire department delivered the food they collected to village hall for the food pantry. A large bus, a van and an SUV were filled to the top with donations collected by the fire department.
Several volunteers made many trips unloading the food and other goods collected.
“We couldn’t believe the overwhelming response we got from the customers at Costco,” said Chief Malcolm. Members of the fire department were stationed outside of Costco passing out fliers to customers with a list of items needed for the pantry. “People were coming out with full carts, and giving the whole cart full of items to us for donation. We couldn’t believe the generosity.”
In addition to the large amounts of food and other goods collected, the department received over $1,200 in cash donation to the food pantry.
“We are very appreciative to the Randhurst Village Costco and the support of their store manager, Michelle Riggott and her staff,” said Chief Malcolm. I’m also very proud of the members of the Mount Prospect Fire Department that donated food and their time to help stock the food pantry,” said the chief.
Deputy director of Human Services, Jan Abernethy, was moved to tears when she heard about the success of the collection.
“You have no idea how hard it’s been — we have had to cut back on what we can give clients because the pantry has been so low. This donation will go such a long way,” she said.
Director of Human Services Nancy Morgan was also overwhelmed by the response. “Not only is the food pantry full, but we even have to store some things in the basement of village hall because we ran out of room. This is truly unprecedented. We are so grateful,” Morgan stated.
The fire department will continue to accept food pantry donations at all three of its fire stations from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays until Nov. 19. Residents can drop off donations at any of the following fire stations:
타 Fire Station #12 at 1601 W. Golf Road
타 Fire Station #13 at 112 E. Northwest Highway
타 Fire Station #14 at 2000 E. Kensington Road
Donations can also be brought to the Human Services Department on the second floor of village hall, 50 S. Emerson Street from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday — Friday.
“This will give us a great start for our holiday programs for this year,” said Morgan. “We were looking at having to reduce the number of bags of food and grocery store gift cards given to our families this season due to the shortages in the food pantry. This will definitely put us in better shape,” she said.
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