Joliet Township leader says Forest Park food pantry represents hope, dignity

The top leader for Joliet Township said the new food pantry for the Forest Park neighborhood represents more than food and shelter but a community of people looking out for one another.

Township Supervisor Alicia Morales spoke to a crowd of attendees on Monday for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the grand opening of the new food pantry at the Forest Park Community Center, 1017 Woodruff Road, Joliet.

Morales said township officials were not just cutting a ribbon for a building, but for hope, dignity and the idea that when people “invest in our communities, we all rise.”

“This space represents so much more than food and shelter. It represents care. It represents neighbors refusing to let one another go hungry in silence,” Morales said.

Morales said she’s received help from food pantries when she was struggling in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Morales said she was a single mother in graduate school who was trying to keep her head above water but the bills kept piling up and her fridge was almost empty.

She said she remembered feeling nervous and embarrassed when she walked into a local food pantry.

[ PHOTOS: Joliet Township opens new food pantry ]

Morales said she felt as if she somehow failed her children. But she said she knows she shouldn’t have felt shame because she was working hard like so many others.

“What failed me wasn’t my work ethic or my character. What failed me was a system that doesn’t protect people when they fall. And that’s why pantries exist, so no one else has to feel that shame, so families don’t have to choose between food and medicine,” Morales said.

The Forest Park neighborhood is home to almost 3,000 residents and it is estimated that 1,758 people will benefit from the food pantry’s services, according to a statement from Joliet Township.

Skyler Reed will serve as the new coordinator for the food pantry at the center. He said there is an need for the food pantry and the center has overwhelming support from the community.

“People are driving by and [saying], ‘Hey is the community garden getting back up?’ ” Reed said.

He said it is “really important” for community programs to be “community driven.”

We will step in when the federal government steps back. Make no mistake. Local governments, we must do more.

—   Alicia Morales, Joliet Township supervisor

Bettye Gavin, the former executive director of the Forest Park Community Center, attended Monday’s ceremony.

Some of the elected officials who were also there included Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy, Joliet City Council member Suzanna Ibarra and State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet.

In 1990, the Forest Park Community Center was founded to provide services to the neighborhood on the East Side of Joliet.

Last year, the Forest Park Community Center was acquired by Joliet Township when Angel Contreras was still the township supervisor.

Under the leadership of Contreras and Morales, the township has placed an increased emphasis on providing resources to the community and partnering with nonprofit organizations.

Last year, Contreras said the acquisition of the Forest Park Community Center was necessary because the township ran out of space at its office building next to the Jefferson Street drawbridge.

Morales’ remarks at Monday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony also touched on the effects of the current administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Morales said funding for programs that help poor and working class people have been slashed. She said there’s been a “deliberate attack” on people who are simply trying to survive.

“Black and brown communities are bearing the brunt of these decisions. And let me be clear, this is not by accident. This is the result of decades of disinvestment, neglect and injustice,” Morales said.

She said the Forest Park food pantry is proof the community and local government can care for others.

“We will step in when the federal government steps back. Make no mistake. Local governments, we must do more. We must continue to support working class people, not with just lip service but with resources,” Morales said.