CRYSTAL LAKE – Santa’s elves could have learned a thing or two about moving with a purpose and loading vehicles by watching the Crystal Lake Food Pantry’s volunteers Friday afternoon.
Right after the pantry closed its doors at 2 p.m. for the last time at its 257 King St. address, volunteers quickly packed up what remained of its contents for a move to its new, much roomier home across town at 42 East St. Pantry board Vice President Karen Munter pushed an empty four-wheeled cart – one of many whizzing along the floors – into the quickly emptying building.
“Once you have a bin or a box full, make sure it’s closed all the way, and put it on a cart,” Munter told volunteers packing away food. Outside, a large truck donated by JA Frate for the move slowly began to fill up.
The move will allow the food pantry to deliver even better services to a growing population of people in need, pantry President Bill Eich said as volunteer Ed Erickson loaded milk crates filled with egg cartons onto a cart. The new location has 30,000 square feet, or almost 10 times the 3,500 square feet of the old one. The food pantry bought the King Street building nine years ago and moved from its previous space at The Salvation Army Crystal Lake Corps Community Center.
“This opens up so many possibilities, and solves so many issues with space,” Eich said.
The East Street location is laid out like a supermarket, with aisles and a refrigerated section stocked through a walk-in area, Treasurer Danielle Morlock said during a brief tour. Clients will be able to wheel shopping carts through to make their selections. A large storage area, with metal shelves made by a boy for his Eagle Scout project, holds food in the back, while two garage doors allow trucks to unload their cargoes indoors, which eliminates the risk of slips on winter days. Some of the new location’s spare space will become a classroom that social service agencies can use, Eich said.
The food pantry raised more than $700,000 to pay for the new location.
For businesses, outgrowing one’s home is a good problem to have. For a charity that feeds the needy, it’s a sad one.
“This was the perfect size when we started here,” Eich said as volunteers continued packing. “In the last five years, we’ve had 250 percent growth in the number of clients coming through here.”
The pantry’s new East Street home will become a Northern Illinois Food Bank distribution point, which means that Crystal Lake and other McHenry County food pantries will not have to drive all the way to Geneva to pick up bulk supplies. The centralized space also will make it easier for area pantries to pool their resources together to buy more in bulk.
Eich said that the pantry would like to expand to be able to offer services to residents countywide.
The food pantry will open for business at its new location on Wednesday.
Online
For more information about the Crystal Lake Food Pantry and donation information, visit www.clfoodpantry.org.
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