Group uses loose change to help St. Charles food pantry

It began with a small group of runners using loose coins and cash picked up during their jogs to buy groceries for the Salvation Army food pantry in St. Charles.

Nine years later, the annual shopping trip has become a Thanksgiving tradition for the Next Step Running Club.

"We don't want anyone to be hungry," said Glen Kamps, manager of Dick Pond Athletics in St. Charles, where the club is based.

On Saturday, more than 50 running club members gathered at the Aldi store in Geneva to spend $1,957 on multiple carts of items, including canned fruit, dry pasta, instant potatoes, cereal and condiments. It was a record amount of money for the group.

"It puts the sprit of the season in my heart knowing that I'm going to be able to help someone else along the way," said Janice Gendron of North Aurora, a club member who collected more than $50 in coins with the help of her co-workers.

Kamps said the club got the idea to donate food to the Salvation Army after members started finding loose change while running down the road.

"The more we ran and looked on the road, the more money we found," Kamps said. "So we thought, 'Gee, maybe we should run more.'"

The first year, the group found about $92. They went to the Aldi to buy the food "because the prices were lower."

Now the club gets help from hundreds of people, including schoolchildren, who donate money found throughout the year. Still, the runners find quite a bit on their own.

"You'd be surprised," said Kamps, adding that coins are often found in the parking lots of malls, shopping centers and fast-food restaurants. "If you get enough people picking them up, you can turn it into something."

Some club members are always looking for loose change - not just when they're running.

Tristi Matzuka of St. Charles says she's gone 452 consecutive days of finding coins.

"It's just an incredible feeling going out as a team and helping other people that are less fortunate than us," said Matzuka, adding she once found $6 in a single day.

Justin Sheth, a district manager with Aldi, said the company, whose North American headquarters is in Batavia, is so impressed that it gave the running club a check for $2,000 on Saturday morning.

"The Tri-Cities is so important because this is our home," Sheth said. "So it's awesome to make contributions to localized efforts like this."

Kamps said he didn't have enough time to cash the check before Saturday's shopping trip. He said the money will go toward next year's effort.

"We will build on that and try to double it," Kamps said.