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While Mary Ann Flanagan, 90, lives a comfortable life now, she knows what it’s like to go hungry. Flanagan was raised during the Great Depression, and her parents struggled to put adequate food on the table in the difficult years before they lost their farm northwest of Eureka.
“My mother would give me a knife and a dish pan and tell me to dig up the dandelions in the ditch beside the road,” Flanagan said. “I would get the dish pan as loaded as I could, then my mother cleaned them and added a hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise. Dandelions make a delicious salad. That was the whole meal. Maybe we’d have some potatoes with it.”
On a recent Wednesday morning, Flanagan and her neighbor Willis Sutter, both of Eureka, were in Aldi on War Memorial Drive in Peoria buying cases of peanut butter, tuna, canned pork and beans and salt for the Open Arms Food Pantry in Metamora. Sutter, a volunteer at the pantry, did the lifting while helping Flanagan, who is a bit frail, push the cart through the store. Flanagan paid the bill.
It wasn’t the first time Flanagan has donated to the pantry. Over the three years the pantry has been run by Metamora Mennonite Church, Flanagan has made several trips to Aldi. She also has bought whole hogs from her great-nephew’s farm and solicited a donation of melons from a Spring Bay farm that a former student runs.
Flanagan has lived in the Eureka area all her life. She is well known to many residents because she taught fourth grade at Metamora Grade School for 24 years.
“She was my favorite teacher,” said Mike Danner, pastor at Metamora Mennonite Church. “I don’t know anyone who had her as a teacher who doesn’t say she was their favorite teacher.”
While Flanagan’s donations to the pantry are much appreciated, they are not unique. The pantry has been in existence since the mid-1980s and serves people in Metamora, Cazenovia, rural Spring Bay, Germantown Hills, Lowpoint and Washburn. It is supported by the entire community, including churches in and out of the area, making it a nondenominational effort.
Having a broad base of donors is important because only about 10 percent of the pantry’s food comes from area food banks. Ninety percent comes from donations.
“The Metamora area is a really benevolent area,” said Bob Shepard, one of the pantry’s volunteers who often performs the role of spokesperson. “If there’s a need, the area will respond.”
While Mary Ann Flanagan, 90, lives a comfortable life now, she knows what it’s like to go hungry. Flanagan was raised during the Great Depression, and her parents struggled to put adequate food on the table in the difficult years before they lost their farm northwest of Eureka.
“My mother would give me a knife and a dish pan and tell me to dig up the dandelions in the ditch beside the road,” Flanagan said. “I would get the dish pan as loaded as I could, then my mother cleaned them and added a hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise. Dandelions make a delicious salad. That was the whole meal. Maybe we’d have some potatoes with it.”
On a recent Wednesday morning, Flanagan and her neighbor Willis Sutter, both of Eureka, were in Aldi on War Memorial Drive in Peoria buying cases of peanut butter, tuna, canned pork and beans and salt for the Open Arms Food Pantry in Metamora. Sutter, a volunteer at the pantry, did the lifting while helping Flanagan, who is a bit frail, push the cart through the store. Flanagan paid the bill.
It wasn’t the first time Flanagan has donated to the pantry. Over the three years the pantry has been run by Metamora Mennonite Church, Flanagan has made several trips to Aldi. She also has bought whole hogs from her great-nephew’s farm and solicited a donation of melons from a Spring Bay farm that a former student runs.
Flanagan has lived in the Eureka area all her life. She is well known to many residents because she taught fourth grade at Metamora Grade School for 24 years.
“She was my favorite teacher,” said Mike Danner, pastor at Metamora Mennonite Church. “I don’t know anyone who had her as a teacher who doesn’t say she was their favorite teacher.”
While Flanagan’s donations to the pantry are much appreciated, they are not unique. The pantry has been in existence since the mid-1980s and serves people in Metamora, Cazenovia, rural Spring Bay, Germantown Hills, Lowpoint and Washburn. It is supported by the entire community, including churches in and out of the area, making it a nondenominational effort.
Having a broad base of donors is important because only about 10 percent of the pantry’s food comes from area food banks. Ninety percent comes from donations.
“The Metamora area is a really benevolent area,” said Bob Shepard, one of the pantry’s volunteers who often performs the role of spokesperson. “If there’s a need, the area will respond.”
Last month, supplies at the pantry were running low, so Shepard posted a plea on the sign in front of the building on Illinois Route 116. “Needs high. Funds Low. Please Help,” the sign read.
“The checks came flowing in,” said Shepard. One donor, an attorney, sent in a check for $10,000.
Continued support is important because need seems to be growing. This spring, the pantry began distributing food baskets on Saturday in addition to its usual Tuesday distribution. Since then, the number of families coming in has increased by about a third.
“I’ve seen people that I’ve known for 30 years that used to be affluent, or comfortable. Now we’re seeing them at the food pantry,” Shepard said.
In the past year, Shepard has noticed a trend of extended families moving in together.
“Maybe I’ve seen Grandma and Grandpa coming in for food for years, but then suddenly the number in the household jumped up,” said Shepard. “The daughter and the grandkids came home. Maybe the husband left or someone lost their job.”
Shepard said that for many of his clients, the problem was caused by the easy credit available before the economic downturn.
“The income just isn’t there like it was,” he said. “Credit was too easy for a lot of people. Now they are having trouble paying their bills.”
While a core group of volunteers from Metamora Mennonite Church run the pantry, volunteers from other churches and the general community also are key in keeping the center going. Because it has been a part of the community for so long, local involvement runs deep.
“The schools are very supportive,” Danner said. “Last year, instead of charging admission for homecoming, students could donate food.
“There was one family who was celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary and in lieu of gifts, they asked that people donate to the pantry.”
For Flanagan, contributing has added a lot to her life.
“This has been such a joy in my life,” she said. “I know where my money goes. It’s a lot more fun than putting money in the collection plate.”
