Mt. Prospect food pantry seeks donations

Summer is officially over, the days are getting shorter, the weather is cooling down. That means the Mount Prospect Food Pantry is getting ready for its busiest season.

The village's food pantry provides emergency food assistance throughout the year to residents who demonstrate need. During the holiday season, the food pantry also undertakes two big meal programs, one near Thanksgiving and the other near Christmas. In each of those programs, families that qualify for assistance receive baskets of donated food.

Given all that, the pantry is now asking residents to help keep its shelves stocked.

“This is the time when our supply starts to run low, so donations are especially welcome,” said Julie Kane, Mount Prospect's human services director. The human services department oversees the food pantry.

Kane said the two holiday programs help about 125 families each.

The Mount Prospect Fire Department will do its part to help by holding a food drive later in the fall, Kane said.

“That's always a big help to us,” Kane said. “And as we get closer to the holidays, people generally are more apt to make donations, but it's not something we can ever take for granted.”

A full food pantry won't just help needy families during the holidays; it will also allow the pantry to continue providing assistance after the first of the year, a time when donations tend to slow, Kane said.

These are a few of the items that the food pantry is seeking (the food pantry can't accept homemade or expired food):

• Canned fruit

• Cookies/crackers

• Juice/juice boxes

• Instant mashed potatoes

• Jam/jelly

• Coffee

• Peanut butter

• Household paper products

For more about the food pantry, call (847) 870-5680 or visit mountprospect.org. Services are available to residents from two locations, the village hall, 50 S. Emerson Street, and Community Connections Center, 1711 W. Algonquin Road.