1 Front Volume 141 No. 50
Friday, November 20, 2015
Single Copy Cost 50¢
Hunger is no game Food pantry visited by many as result of increased costs and low pay By Dave Cook
news@tonicanews.com
LASALLE — Every year more families open their cupboards and refrigerators to find empty shelves. More seniors and others on fixed incomes are struggling to stretch their dollars until the next month. Many have to choose between food and medicine. Children may go to school hungry or have nothing to eat when they get home. Some people have no home to go to. Food pantries are the safety net which hopes to catch them all. More than 700 families and almost 2,000 individu-
als within the nine cities served by the Illinois Valley Food Pantry were kept from going hungry this year. “Employment is up, but they’re low paying jobs; and there’s a large number of people living on a fixed income. The pantry began as a temporary solution to a weak local economy, but we’ve evolved into an established and critical safety net for area families. This is our 33rd year in service,” said Donna Hess, executive director of the Illinois Valley Food Pantry. The purpose of the pantry is to provide assistance to people who are out of work; have insufficient income; whose public aid has been delayed or has run out; or whose family resources have been depleted by sickness or age.
Food is provided monthly, with special baskets provided during holidays. More frequent distribution may be made in emergencies. Clients are interviewed about their needs and must provide information about their income and family size. The pantry helps stretch their food budgets so they can use their money for bills and health costs. As with most pantries, cash donations are always needed, and those dollars are stretched as far as possible by buying in bulk. There is also a constant need for cereal, soup, baby food, soup, tuna, canned food, soup, noodles, rice, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, instant potatoes, sugar, flour, coffee, mac and cheese, Jell-O, toiletries and large paper grocery
Hungry Page 2
Happy Thanksgiving from the Tonica News
While it appears these two turkeys are making plans to order out pizza for Thanksgiving, the nation’s annual Thanksgiving feast is an important reminder to be thankful for all we are given, all we earn, all we do. On behalf of your hometown newspaper, we wish you a Thanksgiving filled with many memory-making moments — one that will fill your heart for years to come. Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends. Tonica News photo/Kath Clark
Hauling company hopes to pick up Tonica’s business By Zachary J. Pratt news@tonicanews.com
TONICA — A new contender vying to be Tonica’s hauling service has stepped forward, as a representative talked to the Tonica Village Board Monday, Nov. 16, about what Republic Services can do for the community. Jim Pozzi of Republic Services spoke to the board about the company and how it can compare against Vol. 141 No. 50 One Section - 8 Pages
the other services. “We really do want to get the word out that you do have more than two choices for haulers now,” Pozzi said. “One of the good things,” Pozzi said, “in this area and wherever we can, the trash we pick up in LaSalle County stays in LaSalle County.” Pozzi explained why this is a good thing, as the county receives money for every ton of garbage stored in the county landfill. Garbage is not the only
thing staying in the county. The landfill employs roughly 50 people, the majority of which reside in the county. “We’re on a pretty big push to keep everything as local as possible,” Pozzi said. “Bring what’s leaving the county back in.” “We’re very, very competitive,” Pozzi said. “We offer some options your other haulers might not.” Pozzi explained Republic Services provides carts, generally housing around 95
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gallons of garbage, for residents to use in place of trash cans. These carts come with the service and can take the place of three to four garbage cans. “The carts send out two messages,” Pozzi said. “They keep everything all nice and tidy, uniform on pickup day,” Pozzi said. He went into detail, stating these carts help keep garbage and cans from blowing away. Where garbage cans
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might tip over, this is not so much of an issue with carts. The second message: “You’re saving your residents money.” If a particular resident has a cart of some sort already, Republic Services can take care of that. “We can take the old carts for free,” Pozzi said. “It’s an option you guys can go with. You don’t have to. ... It’s up to the community what they want to do.” However, their cart ser-
vices are being accepted readily. Pozzi also briefly described the My Resource program, which Republic Services is testing in some larger communities. The program involves putting chips in each cart. Pozzi provided the example of residents monitoring garbage pickup, whether through checking if the truck has gone by already or how long
Trash Page 2
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