Inside a Batavia Jewel-Osco, two local government officials raced around pushing specially decorated shopping carts to collect food for two local food pantries as part of the 17th annual Food Check-Out Challenge Shopping Spree.
Sponsored by the Kane County Farm Bureau, in a little more than five minutes, Elburn Village President Jeffrey Walter and Kane County Board member Theresa Barreiro gathered more than $2,500 of nonperishable food items to benefit the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora and the Elburn Food Pantry.
“Over the last 16 years, these shopping sprees have raised more than $30,000 for local food pantries,” according to Steve Arnold with the Kane County Farm Bureau.
As an association of farmers who produce food, he said, it seemed like a good fit for the group to do “the shopping spree for those less fortunate in our community.”
Elburn Village President Jeffrey Walter, who shopped for the Elburn Food Pantry, said he visited the store the previous week to set up a strategy for his shopping.
In all, he collected $1,519.12 worth of food for the Elburn Food Pantry.
“We were trying to get the items the food pantry needed and also get the items with the highest dollar amount,” Walter said.
The Elburn Food Pantry is going through the post-holiday slowdown which is typical for many food pantries at this time of year, he said.
“In particular they are in need of pastas and boxed potatoes,” he said.
According to Walter, the event was also good exercise.
“I was huffing and puffing, but I made it through,” he added.
Barreiro, who participated on behalf of Aurora’s Marie Wilkson Food Pantry, said she was a bit disappointed she wasn’t able to hit all the aisles. She collected $1,066.39 worth of groceries.
“It was a really good workout,” she added. “It was a lot of fun for a great cause.”
Both Barrerio and Walter also took a turn behind the cash register ringing up each of their orders which overflowed into several shopping carts.
While Walter came out on top, each participant was given a trophy for their efforts by the Kane County Farm Bureau.
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Steve Erickson with the Northern Illinois Food Bank said the event is held in February each year, because it marks the time of the year when the average American family has earned enough to pay for food for the entire year.
“This year, our focus is stretching your dollar with healthy, nutritious food,” he added. “We understand that for some, their food budget is stretched to the breaking point.”
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.