Our congregation has drives for two food pantries. During most months we make a special effort on the last Sunday of the month to bring cans of food, boxes of food items, or hygiene products to church. If you forget, we encourage you to make a cash or check donation on the fourth Sunday. We remember this as “Get Your Can to Church” Sunday.
You can of course bring food on any Sunday, and then sometime after the fourth Sunday worship service, the food will magically be transported by Bonnie Dodge to the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Interfaith Food Pantry. This coming Sunday is “Get Your Can to Church.”
So, what do we recommend that you bring this Sunday? Make sure that it is non-perishable. If you are bringing items you’ve previously purchased, check the expiration date. If you are buying items, consider purchasing protein items: cans of tuna, chicken and sardines go quickly. Food pantries which have families sometimes run out of peanut butter. The Algonquin Food Pantry can use children’s diapers and adult diapers, toothpaste, and paper products.
On March 12, at the Lenten Suppers, we learned that in a typical month 249 households obtained food from the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Food Pantry. There were 847 people in these households including 150 children and 91 seniors. Usually there are 10 new clients per month and a total of 24,219 individual items are distributed. Much of the food comes from volunteers picking up food from grocers. Now instead of spending money dumping food, it is given to the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Food Pantry. This is good, useable food which has an expiration date, but it is food which can be still used if stored under guidelines established by the federal government.
One month of the year, April, we collect food for McHenry County TLS (known as both Transitional Living Services and also as Transforming Lives through Services to Veterans). Tom and Tobey Srogra head this drive. TLS distributes food to veterans in two locations. In Hebron, there is transitional housing (a former small motel has been converted to housing), and in McHenry, there is a food pantry for veterans using the peer support, housing support and employment assistance. TLS serves veterans in nearby counties as well by driving to a central site and assisting them at the site.
Last year TLS helped 767 people totally; some were helped by peer support, some were helped by gaining assistance in completing forms, 83 with housing issues including beds and rental deposits and 80 with employment. Some of the veterans who drop in at the Mc Henry site have experienced considerable trauma and need help transitioning to civilian life.
We will be posting a list in a week or two of the most needed items for the McHenry veterans who are served by TLS. Sometimes their needs change, and we want to provide them with some of the items they most need.
Church Mission Team