Lake Co. pantry helps fill holiday needs

Dozens of cars lined up Saturday along West 30th Street and Lewis Avenue in Zion, as people waited for spaces to open in Faith Food Pantry's small parking lot.

Retiree Sadie Lindsey, who lives in North Chicago, glanced at the line of cars, as high school student volunteers loaded 10 pounds of meat, 10 pounds of potatoes, onions, loaves of bread and a box of canned goods and pasta in the trunk of her daughter's car.

"I think the pantry is wonderful. It's very well-organized, and the line keeps moving. Sometimes you wait, but the line does move along. They give out such a variety of food. It's everything that you can use," said Lindsey, who visits the pantry because her fixed income doesn't stretch far enough these days.

Lindsey was one of about 2,000 families expected to pick up 120,000 pounds of food Saturday during the pantry's annual Christmas food distribution, director John Sfire said.

"We have 1,850 families registered today and are expecting many walk-ins. The need in Lake County is great," Sfire said. "Here's the challenge we face: people are paying more for gasoline and electricity, and food is becoming a discretionary item. If you have to get to work to make money, you have got to put gas in the car. With the cost of gas and ComEd, the only wiggle room is food.

Sixty-five percent of the pantry's regular clients are employed, Sfire said.

The largest food pantry in Lake County, Faith serves families from 26 municipalities including Lindenhurst, Libertyville, Waukegan, Mundelein, North Chicago, Beach Park and Zion.

While Lake County is one of the most affluent areas in the country, it also has the third-largest percentage of people living in poverty in the state, said Sfire, who with his wife, Bobbi, has run the Zion pantry for eight years.

The pantry is staffed solely by volunteers, and all donations are used to buy food. About 100 volunteers were on hand to help with the Christmas food distribution, Sfire said.

Volunteers such as Don Good of Zion, manned six computer stations to register clients. Clients were required to show some form of identification to establish where they live, although no one is turned away, Sfire said.

Besides working holiday food distributions, Good works 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday evenings. The pantry added the evening hours in March.

"We have a segment of the population, the working poor, which is growing. I'm seeing this more and more on a face-to-face basis," Good said.

At Faith Food, everyone in Lake County is welcome for twice-a-month visits. The average person, however, comes just five times a year, Sfire said.

For more information on giving, volunteering or receiving, call (847) 438-5000