UPDATE: Food Pantry Eyes New Location on Pyott Road

The Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Interfaith Food Pantry is hoping to go from dreary and cramped to cheerful and spacious by trading out its current facility for a pole barn on Pyott Road.

Sal Maggio, the facility manager for the food pantry’s Board of Directors, said he is in support of moving to a 13-acre vacated property at 1111 Pyott Road, known as the Gordon Larsen property.  

The pole barn would double the pantry’s space. It would allow the organization to include a re-sale shop with used clothing and furniture for its clients.

But more importantly, those in support of the move say, is the physical environment change the switch could bring.

Maggio envisions kids being able to take fishing poles down to the pantry’s pond while their parent’s shop. He is looking into creating a community garden on the property. The land also includes a stable with horses and apples trees.

“It’s a way to get away from their concerns and issues. No one wants to have to go to a food pantry,” Maggio said.

The pantry’s current location at 600 E. Oak St. consists of a metal building that also houses public works vehicles and is flush with issues from a leaky roof to rodents.  The property itself has a gravel driveway and is set close to the road. 

“The existing site – it is very exposed and institutional looking. And I’m sure that the people who are in need feel very on display,” said volunteer architect Jim Steigert, who is also a trustee on the village of Algonquin Board of Trustees. “(The Larsen property) is set back considerably. Those visiting would no longer be visible from the street...it's almost like stepping into a different environment entirely."

Plans Evolve

The plans for refurbishing the food pantry at its current Oak Street location had been in the works for over a year. But Maggio said the opportunity to move to the Pyott location was too good to pass up.

“We are so excited by this whole turn of events. When I walked down to the property for the first time, I was like a little boy with a new puppy,” Maggio said.

Steigert got the OK from a structural engineer this past week on the pole barn. He will now work to put together plans to present to the pantry’s board. If approved, the village of Lake in the Hills would then have to give its stamp of approval.

Village Helps Out Pantry

The village has owned the Larsen property for the past seven years, said Village Board President Ed Plaza, adding the village would charge the pantry $1 to take over the facility if plans to move ahead at that location materialize.

The location was formerly home to Gordon Larsen and his wife, Joann, who have both passed away. Gordon Larsen was a well-known developer and businessman in Lake in the Hills for decades and was influential in shaping the village "through volunteer and monetary donations," according to the village's website.

The village of Lake in the Hills also owns the current location on Oak Street and is offering $43,000 to the pantry for its project, Plaza said.

“Since we were already assisting the food pantry in its present location, we thought it would be potentially be a better fit (on the Larsen property),” he said.

Representatives from the village and food pantry met in recent weeks to discuss the Larsen property as a possibility. Before that, the pantry had been planning to move forward with a $277,000 refurbishment project at its current Oak Street location.

“We were just about ready to put the new roof on the old place when this new opportunity came along,” Maggio said.

The Current State of the Food Pantry

Significant problems in the current facility spurred action to move forward with a refurbishment project.

The current facility is cramped, the roof leaks and there is little space for parking. The facility is not properly insulated and does not have adequate heating or cooling for the winter and summer months, Maggio said.

The food pantry offers a grocery-store-type setting where families in need are able to pick up a certain amount of items based on the size of their family.

The food pantry currently serves around 330 families per month. The pantry gets its food from local donations and through the Northern Illinois Food Bank, Maggio said.

Meanwhile, the number of people in need continues to grow. Maggio said in the past nine months, 25 to 30 new clients have come to the pantry for food each month.

If the pantry moves to Pyott Road, Steigert hopes to incorporate the general idea of  refurbishing plans for the Oak Street location in its new location, which includes a reception area and a more spacious layout in the pantry. To view those plans -- and to find information on how to donate or volunteer -- visit the pantry's capital campaign web page.

Fund-Raising Efforts

The pantry has raised around $20,000 so far and has a current goal of reaching $277,000 for the refurbishment project, Maggio said.

While the fund-raising has just began, small efforts are underway in the community to raise money.

Carol Platt, a volunteer at the pantry, recently organized a Bloomin' Bunco Benefit. Bunco, a dice game, drew 160 area women to Neubert Elementary School in Algonquin last Friday and raised $3,300 for the pantry. To view a video from the Bunco tournament, .

“I’ve been taking on some of the fund-raising. This (the Bunco Benefit) is really the first one,” Platt said. “We hope to have more benefits through the next year/year-and-a-half.”

Maggio has in recent weeks been meeting with churches to request assistance. As well as monetary help, Maggio is looking for people who can volunteer their time and talents to the project with everything from knocking down walls to construction efforts to assisting with much-needed marketing and event planning.

He is also looking to area businesses and corporations to help fund the project.

“We have a lot of things in the hopper right now,” Maggio said. “We are looking for support.”