Hinsdale Magazine | Giving Back
Supplying demand
HCS Family Services expands its services through new, larger pantry at Anne M. Jeans Elementary School By Mike Ellis | Photography by Daniel Garcia
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CS Family Services has unveiled an updated, more spacious food pantry at Anne M. Jeans Elementary School in unincorporated Willowbrook. The pantry, which according to District 180 superintendent Tom Schneider is one of three school-based pantries currently operating in the State of Illinois, serves underprivileged individuals within the school district, as well as those in surrounding DuPage County communities. Opened in 2016, the HCS food pantry at Anne M. Jeans Elementary is situated in the organization’s neediest area, the Willowbrook Corner neighborhood. The pantry was originally located in the basement, but this updated version is on the
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main level of the school, and is significantly larger, thus affording HCS the space to stack its shelves with more goods to serve its clients. HCS held a grand opening for its community partners and supporters at the school on March 13. “We want to thank you, in person, for all of the contributions that you made to us, and we also are happy for you to see the results of your work; we want you to see the actual food pantry,” HCS executive director Stan Cook said. Cook, who has been in his current position for roughly eight months, and served on the organization’s board for about a year prior, said in his time at HCS, he has “learned a lot about local hunger.”
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“I’ve learned that hunger is, in fact, an acute issue in our community, but it’s also a very hidden issue here,” he said. “I’ve learned that in DuPage County, we have the second-largest food-insecure population in the State of Illinois, behind only Cook County; I’ve learned that one in six children in northern Illinois face hunger; and I’ve learned that here, in [the] Willowbrook Corner [neighborhood], there’s an area of particular need.” Citing 30 years of previous experience in the private sector, Cook said the partnership HCS has formed with District 180, which encompasses Anne M. Jeans and Burr Ridge Middle School, is “one of the best that I’ve worked with,” and that the location is ideal, given the need that exists in Willowbrook