DANVILLE — When people pick up food at St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, they get something extra — a warm smile and a kind word.
“It’s a blessing you feel in your heart,” Mary Lipa Seyfert said, describing how much she enjoys volunteering at the pantry.
She and her two sisters – Lori Lipa White and Kim Lipa Guggemos, along with Kim’s son, Joe — addressed members of the Danville Lions Club recently. They talked about the pantry’s history at Holy Family Church, 444 E. Main St., and its role in the community.
To help out, Lions members donated several boxes and bags filled with non-perishable food items, and the club presented a check for $500.
The food drive was in observance of Lions Club International’s Global Hunger Week of Service,
While the Vermilion County area has several food pantries, there’s still not enough food to meet the need, Seyfert said.
However, the pantries help each other, when possible, and some local businesses make donations. For example, when the freezers broke at two Dollar General stores, at different times, the stores donated the frozen food to St. Vincent. There was too much food, so St. Vincent shared the food with Crosspoint’s Women’s Shelter and the Antioch Mission Food Pantry.
Aldi’s and Ruler stores make donations of meat every Friday.
“They provide at least 70% of our meat in the last few months,” Seyfert said.
In addition, the pantry has partnered with the United Way and Door Dash to deliver food to 20 home-bound people.
In the last six months, the pantry has served 2,050 families and 5,200 individuals. In December, volunteers served 250 families and 630 individuals. The volunteers also make up bags for the homeless.
The distribution is done in a drive-through style, with cars turning onto one-way Quincy, then Outten and entering through Holy Family’s parking lot through the back gate. Bags are already pre-packed with essentials, such as soup, cereal, pasta, vegetables, bread, and, when available, fresh tuna and meat, Seyfert said. Sometimes, children’s books are available.
The food give-away started in the 1990s when church secretary Mary Rothery and assistant Darlene Carter gave whatever staples were on hand to anyone who came to the door. The Rev. Ted Pracz restarted the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
In 2013, Nancy O’Kane offered to take responsibility of the food pantry from the church office. She emptied a small room in the basement, joined Eastern Illinois Food Bank, organized fundraisers, rallied volunteers — and an organized food pantry was born.
Volunteers went the extra step — and still do — by getting to know the people who sought help.
“We provided that smile, that kind word of understanding, as we might have been the only person that spoke to them those days,” Seyfert said, reading from a history written by O’Kane.
When COVID hit in 2020, the pantry closed. However, after a few months, O’Kane devised the drive-through system to reduce contact. Also, the pantry changed its schedule from twice a week to once a week — 10 a.m. to noon Thursdays.
Later, O’Kane enlisted three of her best workers — the Lipa sisters, volunteers since May 2020 — to take over. At the time, the pantry was helping 35 to 70 families.
The pantry is open to everyone, and also offers help with utility bills.
The pantry relies on fundraisers, parishioners who donate funds, and grants. A total of about 20 volunteers provide an invaluable service, and sometimes students from Kenneth Bailey Academy pitch in.
Anyone who would like to donate items to St. Vincent may call Holy Family at 431-5100 Monday through Thursday or visit the Web page at https://www.holyfamilydanville.net/svdp
To learn more about the Lions Club, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/danvillelionsclub/ or Lions District 1-M website at www.district1m.org