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News
More space for Kendall County Food Pantry : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisMore space for Kendall County Food Pantry
| Yorkville based-agency to move into larger building across the street
| by Matt Schury
| 3/8/2012
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Providing assistance and services for the needy in the community has always been the goal of the Kendall County Food Pantry.
Soon that goal will have room to grow as the Food Pantry prepares to move into a bigger building before the end of this year.
The Kendall County Food Pantry recently purchased a building on Beaver Street in the Fox Industrial Park in Yorkville. The 36,000 square foot building is three times the size of the current facility. The move won't be far though as the new facility is located across the street from the current pantry on Deer Street in Yorkville.
Maria Spaeth, director of the Food Pantry, says while she is excited about the move, the new building will need to be cleaned and fixed up before they are ready to move.
"I'm so excited," she said. "Probably within the next four to six months we'll be moving."
The Food Pantry purchased two adjacent warehouse buildings from First National Bank of Omaha for $217,000, according to the real estate transfer recorded by the county.
This will be the second move for the Food Pantry with Spaeth as the leader. In 2008, shortly after Spaeth took over as director, the group moved from their site at the Kendall County Farm Bureau building in downtown Yorkville to their current building, which was anonymously donated rent-free.
Spaeth thanked the donor of the space who has remained wished to remain anonymous.
"We are very, very grateful for those years that we have been allowed to stay there," she said. "Because we simply could not have done what we are doing without that."
Spaeth said the long-term goal of the pantry has been to move in to their own facility.
"The (pantry) board and I had a vision that some day there would have to be a permanent home for the Food Pantry," she said. "My vision was that it would be much further down the line. An opportunity came our way to purchase a building sooner than we had planned."
Ironically, Spaeth noted that the same economic conditions that have brought more clients to the Food Pantry also enabled them to buy the new building for a good price.
"It's kind of a mixed blessing," she said.
Spaeth said as far as ideas for expanding the programs and services the pantry provides, she has a many ideas but is going to see what happens.
"I'm not setting anything in stone because I've learned that I need to be very flexible," she said. "Much of what will happen will be based on what we can get via grants and funding."
The extra space will, however, allow the pantry to add a larger waiting area and parking lot for clients. Spaeth said she doesn't want to see clients of the Food Pantry waiting outside anymore.
"That's my one goal because I never, ever want to see another person standing outside and waiting," she said. "It's tough coming here, it's hard and it's harder when you're standing outside. To stand outside and wait for food is so humiliating."
The larger parking lot will also help to alleviate the parking situation at the Food Pantry on Thursdays when they serve their clients.
Spaeth says the new larger space will allow the pantry to possibly expand its hours and days of operation and also add new programs. Spaeth said she would like to introduce a financial freedom program that gives clients advice on navigating their financial resources and options.
"A lot of individuals don't realize what they qualify for or how to go about getting help. They just don't understand it and it's a very complicated world," she said.
The Food Pantry also would like to roll out a program in which area businesses can come to the pantry with job listings and help their clients with their job searches. Spaeth also wants to be able to hold classes to help people become computer literate.
"It has always been my vision to empower people and to educate them on how to grow in this existing economy and world," she said
She added that they want to be able to reach out to offer more assistance to the elderly, veterans and the disabled.
The Food Pantry currently assists clients in signing up for service from the Illinois Department of Human Services. With the recent closing of the Human Services Family Community Resource Center in Yorkville, Spaeth said she hopes the pantry can step up those efforts.
Spaeth said she wants to be able to offer services to those in need without them having to leave Kendall County.
"One of the things that I am hoping is that this will become a building that the community will use as a space that is available," she said. "This is a building that is for Kendall County and that's what I want. I want this to be a building that the county uses for reaching out to the community in need."
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