St. Isidore students raise money to fill food pantry shelves

St. Isidore School students in Bloomingdale, along with the parish's religious education classes, participated in a Lenten service project to raise money for the Neighborhood Food Pantries of DuPage County, with a goal of collecting enough cash donations to fill 150 grocery carts.

Final results show monies collected by the students between Ash Wednesday and Holy Week totaled $2,150 - enough to fill 420 grocery carts.

In order to maximize the collections, the students worked through the Northern Illinois Food Bank where every $5 donation they made was enough to purchase a full cart of groceries.

"When our school and R.E. students found out about the Northern Illinois Food Bank $5 program, they understood they would be able to purchase much more food through the food bank than they would be able to at a retail grocery store," said Ellen Prosch, St. Isidore parent who served as a coordinator for the program. "Encouraged to think in terms of 'what can I buy for myself with $5 and what would that same $5 do for someone in need,' the kids really worked hard to make an impact.

"Some did extra chores at home to earn money; others contributed their allowances. The kids who participated talked about how good it felt to be able to make a difference for someone not as fortunate as them, and Lent was the ideal time to do so."

Neighborhood Food Pantries serve families in the DuPage County area who are in need of basic grocery items and personal supplies, as well as financial support for medical care and/or prescriptions, housing and utilities. There are six local food pantry sites in DuPage County, which last year served more than 3,270 families with three to seven days' worth of food each visit.