Students’ generosity shines at Grafton Food Pantry

HUNTLEY — The holiday season tradition of Huntley Community School District 158 (D-158) students’ donations to the Grafton Food Pantry is about 20 years old this year.

On Dec. 11, Huntley High School’s National Honor Society (NHS) brought carloads of supplies to the Grafton Food Pantry, 11481 Allison Court in Huntley.

Students were upbeat as they brought in boxes of items collected over the past two weeks. They were thrilled to assist in holiday spirit in their two hours on a frigid day.

“It’s great to be part of a community effort,” NHS senior Emily Ernst said.

“It’s good because it helps the community,” junior Jersey Caserno said.

“We’re proud of it, we collected a lot of clothes. We had a lot of groups at the high school participate,” senior Alyssa Bonner said.

Grafton Food Pantry President Harriet Ford praised the great support it receives from D-158.

“D1-58 has always been very generous for us, with the NHS, as well as Legee Elementary and Chesak Elementary making donations. They’re the largest group and the students are wonderful. Later, we’ll have families at our holiday dinner and receiving gifts.”

The Grafton Food Pantry’s area of service includes villages of Huntley, Lakewood, Pingree Grove and portions of Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills.

NHS Advisor Jenna Gaudio said the students were excited for the event.

“Each year NHS partners with Grafton Food Pantry to support families celebrate the holidays,” Gaudio said. “This year our students adopted over 200 individuals. Our students work with their families, neighbors, sports teams, clubs, activities, religious organizations etc. to help provide holiday gifts for families who utilize the Food Pantry on a regular basis and sign a document stating their income is at poverty level. They create a wish list and the food pantry sends that to us and we work with our HHS community to provide gifts for the holidays. Many of the gifts are basics like winter coats, jeans, boots, hats, gloves, and so on. Some people ask for things like lotion and chocolate, it really puts in perspective the holidays.”

Gaudio continued, “NHS loves supporting Grafton  Food Pantry because they support our community. Unfortunately, they have seen an increase in 25 percent of people who need assistance this year, so we do our best to hold food and personal product drives that supports Grafton Food Pantry several times during the school year. We were really touched last year when Ford spoke to our students about how families get four rolls of toilet paper per month. The kids were blown away by that and really had a deeper desire to support them.”

Gaudio said NHS has more than 100 members.

“We have 128 students in NHS and most of them participate in some capacity with Adopt a Family, it is one of our biggest events of the school year. We had more and more people who wanted to participate. Some members donated products, such as personal hygiene items, for babies and families with small children. We were able to get the whole school community involved,” Gaudio said.

In addition to support from D-158, Huntley’s Very Merry Christmas tree display Dec. 7 raised about $400. Also, Rotary Club of Huntley recently organized a winter coat donation.The Grafton Food Pantry web site has an overview of the pantry’s mission.

“Strong ongoing initiatives have been made to reach out to local businesses, service groups, elementary and high school students, Scouts, churches, temples, and the residents of Sun City in order to better serve the community,” according to the web site. “We also provide referrals to other agencies and programs so that our clients may have every opportunity for any support they may need. We believe in utilizing existing services, not in duplicating the efforts of other agencies.”

“Our generous volunteers and benefactors are of every age, religious faith and ethnicity. They work side by side helping their neighbors in need,” according to the Food Pantry’s web site.