Representing St. Bridget Food Pantry, Teresa Marotta was on hand with Blanche Helbling of Northern Illinois Food Bank to thank Rotary for our previous grant to the pantry.  Blanche said the problem is not so much getting the food but getting it distributed so she appreciates the efforts of groups like Teresa’s at St. Bridget Food Pantry.  Teresa said they gave away over 155,000 lbs. of food last year and served over 6,600 families, an increase of over 57% in the last two years.  She said they are at capacity spacewise and utilize many hardworking volunteers; and Msgr. Deutsch has asked her to explore a separate facility for the pantry.  This would be a much more efficient operation as they currently must take donations to a lower level for storage, then bring it back up for staging on pick up day.  Additionally, there is no refrigeration available so they are not able to accept perishable items.  They quoted Pope Francis in their slide presentation:  “You pray for the hungry.  Then you feed them.  That’s how prayer works.”  Also, Teresa mentioned how personal it becomes when you try to help people.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”  Thank you, Teresa and Blanche, for all you do for our community.