Sharing the bounty: Local gardeners' donations help FISH Food Pantry

Thank God for Mother Nature and the benevolence of neighborhood gardeners. Because of them, FISH Food Pantry volunteers can hand out fresh vegetables to families who cannot afford food for their families.

And because of them, pantry volunteers use the money they regularly spend on canned vegetables for other food items they give.

"Because of them, we're holding our own," said Marilyn Mack, president of the Carpentersville-based pantry. "We have about 10 gardeners who give us their tomatoes, zucchini, beans and peppers. We have five kinds of peppers."

Each of the 425 families who seek help every month from the pantry receives a bag full of fresh vegetables.

"There's a Boy Scout troop in Gilberts that comes in twice a week with a load of vegetables," Mack said. "So far, its members have donated 350 pounds of fresh vegetables from their garden."

Churches, community groups and residents also donate their harvest to the pantry. The donations started this month and could continue until the end of October.

"We don't buy fresh vegetables; they don't keep," Mack said. "We give the vegetables out by the bagload because families will use them right away."

When the fresh donations are not available, families received canned vegetables.

With the start of school, demand for school at the pantry increases, she said. Parents can more easily go to the pantry, which is in the Meadowdale Shopping Center, while their children are in school.

The cold weather also increases demand because seasonal landscaping workers are traditionally laid off when work slows.

The past few years have been challenging for volunteers at the Carpentersville pantry as well as others throughout Illinois. More people are out of work and are unable to buy food and pay their other bills, Mack said.

"But our donors have always come through for us. Whenever we have run low, we always have an increase in donations," she said.

"The gardeners are another example of that generosity. They have always been there for us."

The pantry is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. For information, call (847) 428-4357.