Jennifer Rice photo
IBEW Local 461 Assistant Business Manager Shaun Thomas carries groceries back to the apartment of a Constitution House resident.

By Jennifer Rice
Managing Editor
Thursday, May 23, 2013
     Good things happen when union members and students join forces to distribute food to area seniors.
     Representatives from various building trades and students from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy spent their morning May 15 at two residential senior homes distributing food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) mobile pantry and talking with seniors.
     Danny Gutierrez, resident service coordinator with Constitution House on Aurora’s West Side, said the union members distribute food while the students help residents back to their apartments.
     “The union members and students are always here to help with the mobile food pantry and they are wonderful. For our residents, this really is a social event,” Gutierrez explained.
     The NlFB mobile pantry was purchased by the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry (AAIFP) and stocked by the NIFB. It holds 9,000 pounds of food. Residents received frozen meat, dry goods, juice and cleaning supplies.
     Brisa Barraza, program coordinator with the AAIFP said they try and stock the mobile food pantry with food that is appropriate for the residents.
     “We’re aware some might be on diet restrictions, so we try and bring a variety of low sugar foods and sodium restricted,” Barraza explained.
     The mobile food pantry makes regular stops at Constitution House and it’s a date residents always look forward to. “Even though the pantry wasn’t open until 9 a.m., the residents have been lined up for hours. They gather in the lobby, have coffee and talk. It’s a social event for them,” Gutierrez said.
     While outside in line, residents also get chatty with the students who assist them through the line, then carry the boxes of food back to their apartments. Some will tell the students about themselves, but more often than not, they are curious about the students.
     AAIFP Director of Operations Kristan Ensminger said residents enjoy talking with the students. “They seem to really open up more towards the younger kids than they would adults,” she explained.
     The mobile food pantry’s second stop was Lutheran Social Services where more than 100 seniors received food. Union members informed the residents of the varieties of frozen meat available, all the while restocking food and breaking down boxes.
     “The union members are amazing. When they are here — this mobile food pantry runs like clockwork. They know exactly what to do and are always a huge help,” Ensminger explained.
     Lutheran Social Services Property Managers Colleen Smith said she was so impressed by the hard work by both the students and union members. “It’s so great they do this. It makes so many people happy,” she said.