Mobile food pantry helps feed the hungry in Glendale Hts.

On the second Saturday of each month, the parking lot of Family in Faith Christian Church in Glendale Heights fills early.

The crowd of about 200 looks like a sampling from the United Nations with blacks, whites, Hispanics, Arabs and Asians of all ages speaking a variety of languages.

Their backgrounds may be very different, but they have a common need for the boxes and bags of groceries given away each month by the Northern Illinois Food Bank's mobile food pantry, which rolls in about 9:30 a.m.

The rising cost of living has forced some to choose between paying utility bills and rents or buying medications and food. The mobile pantry offers some canned and nonperishable prepared foods, but thousands of pounds of frozen meats and fresh produce along with cleaning supplies also are stacked high on the green-and-white refrigerated truck.

"If I get a chicken here I don't have to buy one at the store. It is very good," said Ahlam Khamissi of Carol Stream, who emigrated from Iran to the United States seven years ago.

But the cost of living is high, she said, noting that she and her family are "working, working, working to pay the rent. … It is very hard, but it is good."

For others, the high cost of gasoline or medical bills has cut into the grocery budget.

"It's pretty nice. The meats, that's what I've been coming for," said Charles Hoskins of Carol Stream, who has a family of five. "Every little bit helps."

The Rev. Steven Kass, Family in Faith pastor, said he first heard of the mobile food pantry program through the Northwest DuPage Walk-in Ministry. He knew that even though DuPage County is among the most affluent areas of the country, many residents are struggling to make it.

The church, with about 130 members filling the pews on Sunday mornings, decided to help and joined the program about two years ago.

"We are doing this because Glendale Heights is in the midst of an area of great need," Kass said, noting that they try to focus on people living within the nearby communities.

Those living in other parts of the county are not turned away, but they will be referred to other mobile food pantry sites or agencies near their homes, he added.

A side benefit of the mobile food pantry is that foods that would have been thrown away because they were close to their expiration dates are put to a good use.

Northern Illinois Food Bank has an award-winning "rescue and recovery" program involving several donor grocery store chains that enables the mobile food pantry to offer frozen meats and fresh produce, said Jarrod Daab, executive assistant for the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

Most pantries are able to offer only nonperishable packaged and canned goods, but the recovery program allows people to receive a more nutritionally balanced selection of foods, he added.

"I'm thrilled with that because I always hated that it was destroyed," Kass said.

In November, the clients at Family in Faith received frozen beef and chicken, as well as large bags of potatoes and other produce. There was also leftover Halloween candy, noodles and bottles of cleaning supplies.

"I think it's a great help for people who need assistance," said Conchita Dagan of Carol Stream, who came to the United States from the Philippines 25 years ago.

Dagan said she tries to come to Family in Faith each month and is especially grateful for the cleaning supplies because they can be expensive to buy at the store.

But it isn't just the clients who benefit on those Saturday mornings, Kass said.

Many of the volunteers enjoy helping others. Some are church members while others live in the community. Some are even doing court-ordered community service and have continued to help even after their obligation is fulfilled, he said.

"I thought it would be good for my daughter," said Margo Brown of Glendale Heights as she and 14-year-old Stephanie Brown hoisted frozen meats off the truck and packed them in bags as people passed the food-filled tables that circled the truck.

Stephanie Brown said she didn't mind getting up early on a Saturday morning and was glad to help.

"The people here are so appreciative," she said.

Throughout the morning, church member Irene Summers strolled through the crowd, chatting with people and taking prayer requests or offering a short prayer with anyone who needed it.

"People have problems and they need to lift them up to the Lord," she said, noting that many of the prayer requests involve health issues or job and financial problems.

"You start doing this because you want to help and you end up loving the people," Summers said.

The Family in Faith mobile food pantry is just one of many stops the Northern Illinois Food Bank truck makes each week throughout the 13 counties in northeast Illinois, Daab said.

Anyone wanting to donate to the program, or needing to find the dates and locales of mobile food pantry stops, can call the Northern Illinois Food Bank at (630) 443-6916.

More details are online at northernilfoodbank.org.

If you go

What:Northern Illinois Food Bank's mobile pantry offers frozen meat and fresh produce to those in need

When: 9:30 a.m. the second Saturday of the month

Where:Family in Faith Christian Church, 1480 Bloomingdale Road, Glendale Heights

Info: (630) 653-5030 or northernilfoodbank.org