While the First United Methodist Church’s Pre-School is in session, the free food provided by the Northern Illinois Food Bank is being distributed at Nunda Township.
People have probably been lined up for an hour when I arrive at about ten. Numbers are given out, so people can wait in their cars if the weather is bad. Parking is on the upper level.
The truck usually arrives shortly after ten.
It takes a half to three-quarters of an hour for the 10-12 for the 10-12 volunteers to unload the 4-6 pallets of food.
In addition, Crystal Lake Jewel provides surplus frozen meat. There is pretty much always enough for one selection each, sometimes enough for two.
Last week there were not enough people wanting food to merit unloading two of the pallets.
Most weeks there is enough food for people to fill two boxes with food (one each time through).
Boxes are provided, although people are welcome to bring their own.
There are also dry goods and, often, candy.
People have come from as far as Marengo for the food distribution.
Illinois currently has 2,005,798 people receiving food stamp benefits.
Between 2000 and 2011, the number of people in McHenry County receiving food stamp benefits grew by 840 percent.
During the same time period, population grew by just under 19 percent.
The numbers for Cook County are a 77.77 percent increase in food stamp recipients and a population decrease of 3.39 percent.
Current population of Illinois is 12,895,362.