NEW LENOX – The New Lenox Township food pantry is bigger and better – and visitors can see it themselves Saturday.
An open house for the new food pantry will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at 1080 S. Cedar Road, New Lenox.
The food pantry has expanded in space and includes a walk-in freezer unit. ShareFest and many other local organizations were involved in raising money for it.
Kathie Johnson, New Lenox Township family services director, said the food pantry usually has 80 visits a week and 230 families registered to come and get food.
There’s a lot more room to the pantry, she said.
“I can now buy things and not worry about where to put them. I have plenty of storage space,” Johnson said.
The pantry, which operates under the township’s Family Services program, is available to New Lenox residents in need of food supplies. Proof of residency is required. Residents are limited to one bag of groceries per week, according to its website.
“Currently, the food pantry is experiencing record level demand each week. The food pantry does not operate on tax dollars, but solely on donations from our community,” stated the township’s website.
The family services program also offers general assistance and a medical supplies exchange program.
Gary Cheney, ShareFest organizer, said the effort to expand the pantry and bring in a new freezer unit was a combined one.
He said ShareFest, a nonprofit organization, and the Family Services Foundation of New Lenox Township, partnered to do a fundraising campaign to equip and enable the pantry.
Volunteer efforts also came from Eagle Scouts, he said. Another big help was the Northern Illinois Food Bank.
“It was an effort by a lot of people – not just one organization,” Cheney said.
He said the food pantry is now able to feed more people.
“Feeding the hungry is one of the biggest needs we have here in Will County,” he said.
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