Fremd senior aims to fill up food pantry

Over the summer, Kellie Kinsella again heard about food shortages at the Palatine Township Food Pantry.

The news wasn't anything new, but Kinsella and her father, Kevin, were growing tired of hearing about the problem.

"In a community like this, that's unacceptable," Kevin Kinsella said.

Instead of getting frustrated, Kellie, a 17-year-old senior at Fremd High School, decided to create a student group to raise $100,000 for the pantry by early next year.

And thus, the Youth Hunger Opposition in Palatine fund, or YHOP, was born.

"We want to eliminate hunger in Palatine," she said.

YHOP (pronounced like the abbreviation for that pancake restaurant) has already raised $25,000 through bake sales, private donations and other fundraisers over the last two months. The first event was at the Fremd homecoming game, where the group raised $10,000. It's a registered nonprofit group with about 1,000 teens participating, handing out business cards and spreading the word.

"A number of kids are involved, it's absolutely wonderful -- it's really fun," Kellie said. "It's brought such a sense of community to a lot of people."

Kellie and other YHOP members talk to students, business owners and other community members to solicit cash donations. She spends about 20 hours a week on the project. There's a Facebook group online that links to the group's main page at yhop.org, where people can find out more about how to help and donate.

YHOP's next event is Nov. 30 at the Palatine at Fremd basketball game where a bake sale will take place. The group is selling T-shirts in the days before the game, at $10 apiece.

The pantry serves about 180 families, said coordinator Norma Meehan.

"I think it's a great goal, I hope the kids can make it," she said. " We can always use the help financially."

Meehan said a slumping economy has increased the need over the last four years.

"There are senior citizens that are just living on Social Security. If they need a little extra help once a month to get food, that's what we're here for," she said.

There are some items, such as spaghetti sauce and peanut butter, that the pantry typically runs low on, Meehan said. That makes cash donations like the ones from YHOP valuable. That money allows pantry staff to go out and purchase high-demand items immediately.

Kellie Kinsella's YHOP counterpart at Palatine High School -- Kathy Wischhusen -- also has plans.

The week of Dec. 2 will be YHOP week at the school, featuring a competition between grades to see who can raise the most money.

Members have even fashioned a special YHOP dance to the tune of the Village People's "YMCA."

The students' efforts are also bolstered by the youth ministries of 13 area churches. Kevin Kinsella, the youth minister at All Saints Lutheran Church in Palatine, has reached out to his counterparts.

He said the churches' involvement gives YHOP a stability to continue once his daughter and other students graduate and move on.

Wischhusen is a junior at Palatine and could take the leadership reins next year.

"The pantry has run out of food over the summer, and that's a horrible thing," she said. "I think the community really needs to realize the problem the pantry has."