Growing trend allows clients to make own choices at food pantries

A trend seems to be growing among area food pantries.

From Naperville to Palatine, agencies have moved toward more of a "client choice" system, as opposed to the pre-bagged method of distributing food.

Getting fresh produce from local gardeners, through the Daily Herald's Giving Garden campaign, has helped fuel the move.

As organizers receive more fresh produce and other perishable food, it has allowed them to expand their offerings and set up more of a grocery store setting or fresh food market as opposed to the sterile feel of a food pantry.

Take the Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry in Naperville, where they transferred to a client choice method last fall. Just the sight of shopping carts tells the story.

"It has been a huge success - for us and the clients," says spokeswoman Jody Bender. "(The client choice system) respects their food preferences and medical conditions, and just lets people eat what they want."

She points to national statistics that report as much as 50 percent waste with the pre-bagged method of distributing food.

Last spring, officials at the Palatine Township Food Pantry moved their food pantry upstairs, in search of expanded space - and a new look.

The pantry serves residents from several communities, including parts of Rolling Meadows, Inverness, Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Barrington, South Barrington and Schaumburg.

With their move came a new outlook as well, one of allowing families to choose their food rather than receive it in a pre-bagged format.

"It's just made for a nicer overall shopping experience," says township administrator Paul Pioch, "and a better way to provide the kind of food their family likes."

Ultimately, he adds, with the addition of fresh fruits and vegetables donated by area gardeners, he hopes the client choice program will lead to more nutritious meals that will sustain families.

"That's our overall goal," Pioch says.

During a recent pantry day in July, Giving Garden volunteers Chuck and Barbara Blake of Palatine stopped by to drop off more of their fresh produce.

On this particular day, they brought in individually wrapped portions of yellow waxed beans, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, butter crunch lettuce, collard greens, mustard greens, kale, beet greens, parsley and rhubarb.

"We love doing it," Chuck Blake says. "When I retired, I started my garden, and we had so much we couldn't possibly eat it all. When I found out we could give it away, I thought, 'Oh, good. Now I can grow more.'"

Laura Hoover, who runs the Palatine Township food pantry, puts out all of the fresh produce at the end of the line, as clients come through the aisles.

"At this point, I let them only take one, because I don't have enough," Hoover says. "We'd love to get more. The more I get, the more I can give away."

Back in Naperville, where they have seen a 60 percent increase in the numbers of visits to their Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry, officials there are describing the choice distribution format as "empowering."

"It allows them to choose the foods they will take home, dramatically reducing waste and ensuring everyone gets the full complement of usable products intended to assist them for two weeks," Bender says.

The donated fresh produce awaits clients near the end of the pantry, before they check out. In fact, all of the perishable goods are set out on shelves together, from fruit and vegetables, to breads and pastries donated by area grocery stores.

Volunteers hope the availability of fresh produce reinforces the need for the nutritional value of meal planning, especially since about 50 percent of the clients they feed are children under the age of 18.