Rotary Club of Carol Stream donates food through three mobile food pantries to serve the community.
Rotary Club of Carol Stream recognizes that there are a number of people in the community that do not have food enough to sustain themselves and their families. These are families that have had employment issues, have fallen on bad times, have had issues due to COVID, or fall below the poverty line. Many of these people have had food issues prior to COVID, but we have seen an increase in our community in recent times this year. The mobile food pantry is a semi trailer that is filled with food--boxed meats, dairy, fruits, and milk products--and it parks at a pre-destined place where the volunteers receive the recipients and distribute the contents. Our club has participated in a Neighborhood Food mobile pantry in the past, but felt that we needed to "up our game" this year. So our club funded three mobile pantries at two different locations in our village. At our last pantry, we had 18 club members and friends that managed to serve 147 families that represent over 600 people from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds for about $8 per carload of food products! As this was an outdoor, masked event, and the recipients remained in their cars while their trunks were filled, it was a COVID safe worthwhile project for the Club.