Falex donates $25,000 to food bank

On Dec. 17, Andrew M. Faville, CEO, and Leslie R. Heerdt, chairman of Falex Corporation, announced their $25,000 matching challenge grant to benefit the Northern Illinois Food Bank's Capital Campaign "We are running out of space, but not out of hungry people."

NIFB plans to build a new Food Distribution and Community Nutrition Center in Geneva. The matching grant will be utilized for a Kane County Committee fundraising phone campaign that will commence in January. For every $2 donated, Falex will contribute $1.

"We have seen an explosion of hunger in northern Illinois, in fact demand for food assistance has increased by a staggering 35 percent in the last year alone," said NIFB president and CEO H. Dennis Smith. "This generous contribution is a great opportunity for the community to enhance their donation impact, while helping their hungry neighbors now and for years to come."

Faville is also the chairman for the Kane County Committee which was formed to generate awareness and funds for NIFB's new facility. The committee has set a Kane County target goal of raising $300,000.

"Many of our employees and their families reside in Kane County and the positive impact of NIFB touches them all indirectly," Faville said. "This is a very important part of our community's infrastructure and we are happy to provide assistance to build a better and larger facility and get food to the people in need. We hope everyone in the region will consider giving; it is a tough economic time, but any amount is a help."

In the new facility, NIFB will have the capacity to handle and distribute up to five million pounds of food each month, which translate to 60 million pounds of food each year, through their partner agencies - food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and youth nutrition sites. Some of the improved efficiencies include increased warehouse space, expanded freezer capacity, additional vehicle and refrigerated docks, a clean room for bulk repack, and a production kitchen to make meals for agency and youth programs. A community nutrition program housed in the facility also will foster healthier lifestyles.

Northern Illinois Food Bank is a nonprofit organization that provides food to all those in need through its 520 partner agencies in the following 13 counties - Boone, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago. It acquires, gathers, handles, and distributes donated, government, and purchased food to more than 50,000 different people each week through local food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, youth activity centers and other food assistance sites. In fiscal year 2009, it distributed more than 27 million pounds of food.

Falex Corp. in Sugar Grove has been an Illinois manufacturing company since 1927 and has resided in Kane County for more than 30 years. They manufacture friction, wear and abrasion testing equipment. Their products are used worldwide and test such materials as artificial body joints, lubricants for engines, gear systems and household applications and fuel quality testing. Their expansion over the years has added many other manufacturing and distribution operations as well as laboratory testing in the U.S. and Belgium where they operate a sales and service center in conjunction with lab services.