Carrying seven full bags of groceries, Dean Fox wanted to make sure area micropantries are kept stocked throughout the colder months.
Modeled on little free libraries that have sprouted up in many neighborhoods, the small but always accessible micropantries are serving a need, even in areas where food insecurity isn’t as evident.
“It’s important for us as a company to support people in the community,” Fox said. “The people in our community are the foundation of who we are. It’s important to give back.”
Fox was one of several business owners who stopped by the Heritage Corridor Business Alliance’s annual Business After Hours hosted by Michelle Kerfin at her State Farm Insurance office in Homer Glen. One of the requests was to bring food for the micropantries in Homer Glen, Lemont and Lockport.
“There’s a need in every community, we just don’t see some of it,” Fox said.
Carolann Roche, owner of Leading Solar Solutions, also brought bags of food for area residents, and she didn’t forget their furry friends. Bags of pet food lined the wall of the insurance office.
“I brought in food I thought people would enjoy such as pancake mixes, instant coffee and lots of pet food and treats,” she said.
In a village such as Homer Glen where large homes and pastoral settings are the norm, the need for donations is not as evident as in some towns.
“In our community it’s kept quiet,” Roche said. “Look around — everyone seems like they are doing awesome, but they’re not. In every town you will find people needing help. In this area there aren’t large food banks like there are in Lockport. If you live in Homer Glen how are you going to get to Lockport if you don’t even have money to put gas in your car?”
Among other locations, micropantries have popped up at the Homer Township Public Library, Christ Community Church in Lemont and in front of Lockport City Hall.
Kerfin, a longtime business owner in Homer Glen, has a family connection to the regional growth of micropantries. Her cousin, Joliet business owner Jeff Eberhard, created a micropantry project in 2016 that caught on and grew, winning a Governor’s Hometown Award in 2019.
“He saw the need and made it his mission to spread the word and the idea to other communities,” Kerfin said. “One of my clients from Christ Community Church told me they would like to have one in front of their church, so that’s what we did.”
More than 100 business owners and community members dropped off food during the Business After Hours event just before Christmas.
“I tell people if they are going to donate, to donate something easy such as cereal,” Kerfin said. “We forget that some of these people don’t have a kitchen. A lot of people donate mac and cheese. I’m not saying don’t donate that, but you have to remember people have to have boiling water and milk to make mac and cheese.”
Michelle’s husband, Ed Kerfin helps keep the church micropantry stocked, along with the one in Lockport. A few mornings a week he fills his pickup truck with canned food for the micropantries. He said the parishioners at Christ Community also help keep the pantry clean and full.
“During the winter it’s tough,” he said. “If there’s 40 mph winds and it’s 20 below, people don’t like to go out to donate food. (But) people that are hungry are still going to go to the food pantry.”
The food collected during the Business After Hours will stock the micropantries for a little over a month.
“These micropantries go through an incredible amount,” Ed Kerfin said. “You could put food in this morning and it will all be gone by this afternoon.”
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The micro pantries are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“People have emergencies it could be late at night, overnight because people need food,” he added.
Michelle Kerfin keeps a large red can in front of her Homer Glen insurance office where people can drop off donations at any time, and people also can donate directly to the micropantries at the Homer Township Public Library, 14320 W 151st St., Homer Glen; Christ Community Church, 13400 Bell Road, Lemont; or in front of Lockport Village Hall, 222 E. 9th St.
More area micropantry locations are listed at http://Micropantries.org/.
Mary Compton is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.