CEDAR LAKE | To keep up with the challenge of feeding the growing number of needy people in south Lake County, the Cedar Lake United Methodist Church is trying to raise $250,000 to build a new food pantry.
The Project Love Food Pantry started in 1987 in the church basement at 7124 W. 137th Place with the goal of providing fresh food and dry goods to those in need. Pastor Ken Puent said the pantry served 15 people a month when it first opened, and distributed items as they were donated by the community.
Over the years, the pantry has gone from being open once a month for those 15 people, all from Cedar Lake, to being open once a week to serve an average of 60 people from the six townships in the south Lake County area. Puent said the total number of families helped is now 2,400, and the number grows by about 100 a year. Instead of dealing only with donated items, the pantry now has a budget of about $65,000 a year.
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Project Love quickly outgrew the church basement and was moved to the small house behind the church that had served as the parsonage, a tiny, two-bedroom home built in the 1950s.
"Because of what we stock, including fresh meat, dairy and vegetables as well as fresh bread, about two-thirds of the space is shelving, which leaves little space for paths to carry food in and out for our clients," Puent said. "We have a dream of building an actual food pantry on ground level and more than double the size."
The proposed pantry is about 2,700 square feet, almost four times the size of the parsonage, which would be razed. The additional space would allow room for the proper loading and storage of items and provide adequate electrical service. Puent said 10 refrigerators and freezers now operate in the house on an electric system he called "scary."
The current cramped quarters mean only a handful of people can enter at one time. The rest wait outside, or, in the case of bad weather, in the basement of the church. The new pantry would not only be roomier but would include a classroom where clients could get schooling on gardening, first aid, career skills and other topics through the Purdue Extension Service.
The classroom also could be used as a place to provide clients with free flu shots provided by Walgreens, he said, and it could be an information center for rental housing, job leads and other community information.
"Our clientele falls between the cracks. They don't qualify for federal assistance, but they don't make enough to meet their own needs. The township trustees come to us to give senior citizens immediate help without having to go through all the government red tape to get it. We can have classes to offer them ways to connect with the federal process and walk them through it easier. If they don't qualify, we're still (be) there to be their safety net."
Puent said $7,000 to $8,000 of the annual budget goes to maintenance of the house or the aging equipment. A new pantry would relieve them of that expense for a while and allow more to be put toward helping clients. Trailers would be set up in the church parking lot during construction to keep the pantry operating.
The Cedar Lake Girls Softball League donated $1,000 to kick off the fundraising effort, and Puent said he hopes to complete the fundraising in time to break ground next spring and be ready to open in the fall of 2016. Activities ranging from a bike rally to a WWE event are being planned to raise money, and a committee is seeking matching grants.
"I'm so glad we have great partnerships, like the Northwest Indiana Food Bank and the Cedar Lake Fire Department and the Boy Scouts to make this possible," Puent said. "The church only has 60 people in it a week, but they are turning it around and making it happen with the help of the whole community," he said of his small congregation.