We all know that food pantries give food to people in need. But how does that actually happen?
The process often begins by purchasing the pantry items used to stock our shelves. Since we help a lot of people, that gets to be a lot of money.
Take milk, for example. Because we buy most of our milk from Northern Illinois Food Pantry, we are able to obtain a steep discount on 1% fat milk through the Milk4MyPlate program. That helps a lot, but we have learned that many people, especially seniors, do not want 1%. As one elderly saint glared at me, “Give me whole milk or give me no milk!”
Meeting people’s needs can be expensive! So far we have spent $48,153.11 on milk, with two months yet to go in the fiscal year. Our actual cost so far is: $48,153.11, minus our discount of $9,047.53, for a net cost of $39,105.58.
That is still a lot of money.
Here, however, we have some champions: Elgin Township granted us a service contract that includes an estimated $10,700 for the purchase of that necessary milk for seniors in Elgin Township. The Fideliters Club gave us a generous gift of $9,000 to buy milk, believing that no child should go without milk. The Noon Kiwanis Club generously added $1,500 and the McGowan Gin Rosica Family Foundation generously gave $5,750. And the Meijer grocery store gave an additional $2,700 for us to get milk from them. Fortunately for a big bill, we also have very generous supporters! Thank you!
If you’ve been following my math, you’ll know that we have raised roughly $27,000 to cover a $39,000 bill, and we have two months yet to go–hunger doesn’t end with our fiscal year.
Where does the rest of the money come from? You. Your contributions, both large and small, help us provide food. When we all pitch in, everyone thrives.
Thank you!