Press release submitted by President Leveda Ashlin.
It doesn’t seem like a year has passed, but on Thursday, August 29, 2024, we celebrated our one-year anniversary, for food distribution from our new building.
We…erected a new sign where the old Hilltop Bowling Alley sign [was.] We…rented the back half of the building to “The Cage,” where Baseball players practice their craft year-round. They have…[been] excellent tenants, and we are pleased to help give back to the community in support of our young people.
During the early summer months various members of the Morrison Football team and their Coach volunteered to help with our food distribution, along with several young ladies from Morrison High School, who helped most of the summer. Thank you all for your help; you are greatly appreciated.
We would like to recognize several organizations that actively support us each month. Rotary Club supplies us with help in unloading our monthly River Bend Food Bank truck order. In July they presented us a $500 check as part of their regional fight against hunger. The Episcopal Church of St. Anne and Lions Club bring in donations of personal care items, which they collect from their members each month, supplying much-needed and appreciated items for our Morrison Charitable Food Pantry NFP clients. We also…thank all the people who have individually donated either food or personal care items on their own. Thank you for caring. We have had donations of fresh eggs, produce, fruit, and other food items, which are a great help.
In July we posted an appeal on Facebook for personal care items, as we needed many. Community State Bank volunteered to act as the collection point for items donated by the Morrison community. They delivered 117 pounds of those items on Thursday, August 1. Many thanks to the community for your donations and to Community State Bank for collecting and delivering them.
Kevin Kuehl donated insulation (for our cooling room remodel) and four, heavy duty shelving units. Thanks, Kevin.
Our new, secure website (morrisonfoodpantry.org) has been moved to Stahr Media LLC’s platform, (out of Rock Falls, IL, and is updated and operational. Our phone number is 815-441-2733, and our email is morrisonfoodpantry@gmail.com. We may not always be able to answer the phone right away but will check each day for messages. I…thank Kathy Schmidt for her assistance in moving the website from MIT to Stahr Media. Kathy worked on setting up the original website and was gracious enough to do our updates for us, prior to our recent website move.
As a reminder, Morrison Charitable Food Pantry NFP clients must sign up for our services and meet the income criteria established by IDHS (Illinois Department of Human Services.) They then are eligible to receive food and other items once a month. We have the sign-up sheet online, along with information about the pantry and the Income Eligibility List.
Our personal care list is also on our website should you wish to donate. We prefer small sizes of laundry and dish soap[, because] we can receive and give out more to a larger number of families. Dollar Tree and Dollar General usually have a good selection of these items. Each month we have more requests than we have supplies. We are one of the few area food pantries that give out personal care items. These include: toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, soap, shampoo and conditioner, laundry and dish soap, household cleaning supplies, deodorants, ladies personal hygiene products, disposable razors, etc. Because these items are donated, we may not always have every item in stock each week.
I would like to thank the Morrison community for your support of Morrison Charitable Food Pantry NFP. Without it we could not stay open….We do not receive any tax monies from the City, County, State, or Federal Governments. We rely on the public’s generosity to keep us afloat. We, along with other pantries, are concerned about the reduced donations of food items to our suppliers, River Bend Food Bank and Sauk Valley Food Bank, this past year. The Food Banks’ cost of procuring non-donated items has also risen, which will impact our bottom line.
Please keep us in mind, as you look at ways to help your community and to help ease food insecurity. We are all in this together.
Our newly elected Board of Directors and Officers for FY24-25 are Sheila Sonberg; Rick Smith; Paul Vandervinne; Randy Kuehl; Rick Deter; Treasurer Cal Vandermyde; Secretary Carole Patton; Vice-President Kathy Vandervinne; President Leveda Ashlin.
We have welcomed Sheila as a newly-elected Director. Director Debra Kuehl…step[ped] down from the Board, and we wish to commend her for her years of service. Debra is still very active as a Volunteer and our Facebook Coordinator.
In closing, I would like to say a big thank you to volunteers Pat Popkin, Rick Barr, Richard Swanson, and Len Ashlin and to our Board of Directors for their dedication to Morrison Charitable Food Pantry NFP. You truly are the best!