DeKALB — The DeKalb County Community Gardens [DCCG] is spreading awareness of the Grow Mobile food pantry, which distributes healthy foods throughout the county.

The purpose of the Grow Mobile pantry, which started in April 2017, is to increase access to fresh and healthy food options to people who live in food deserts or those with difficulty obtaining enough food, including NIU students and faculty.

Dan Kenney, executive director and founder of DCCG, said Grow Mobile goes to rural and urban areas that are low-income. He said a food desert is when an area is a mile or more from a full-service food grocery store as opposed to Casey’s or Dollar General, and low-income areas are at or below the poverty level; both are determined by the U.S. Census, United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] and DeKalb school district report cards.

Since DCCG’s founding in 2012, 100,000 pounds of food have been produced and distributed throughout local pantries, daycare centers, schools, community meal locations, senior citizen centers and housing units, according to its webpage.

Kenney said the report cards have information on how many students qualify for a free or reduced lunch, determined through the USDA. He said the end result is to have increased access to more healthy food options for people with food insecurities in DeKalb county.

Individuals with food insecurities are defined as those with inadequate access to sufficient amounts of affordable and nutritious foods.

Kenney said the year-round Grow Mobile pantry was started with a $10,000 grant from the Aetna Foundation, American Association of Counties and the American Public Health Association. He said the three organizations had a contest for projects to improve the health and well-being of citizens in the given county or city.

Moria Nagy, president of the board of DCCG, said herself, Kenney and Lynn Herrmann, NIU public health professor, came up with the idea together and wrote the application for the grant.

Kenney said the three organizations chose 50 projects to give $10,000, to and the Grow Mobile pantry received an award. He said with additional funding from DeKalb County Community Foundation and others, in May 2017, DCCG was able to purchase the Grow Mobile pantry.

Nagy said the vehicle for the Grow Mobile pantry is a 12-foot refrigerated truck, which distributes the food to different locations throughout the county working with Safe Passage, DeKalb County Health Department, Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary, among other partners.

Kenney said DCCG did just recently receive a grant from the Illinois Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund, which will go toward hiring a driver for the truck. He said the Grow Mobile drops off food on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on how well DCCG is able to coordinate its schedule with the organizations in different areas.

“Last year, DCCG launched the project after purchasing the Grow Mobile,” Nagy said. “We were able to make multiple stops to about 10 different towns in DeKalb County, providing fresh produce along with some packaged food from Northern Illinois Food Bank.”

Nagy said the DCCG started about five years ago as a county-wide project with multiple gardens and has been able to reach 10 of the 13 townships in DeKalb County. She said the grant covered the initial startup costs for the Grow Mobile, but because the organizations do not want to see the same projects again, the DCCG will have to seek new funds every year to keep the program running.

Kenney said after 2018, the DCCG will have to apply for new grants, or they will have to rely on fundraisers, sponsors or donations for the Grow Mobile to continue.

“We are also using a model to help generate revenue for the program by using the vehicle space for advertisement,” Nagy said.

Nagy said the Grow Mobile pantry will rent space for companies to advertise their logos and businesses to generate revenue and help support the program. She said the companies will have to pay an annual fee.

Kenney said DCCG has a partnership with Northern Illinois Food Bank and other food marts in DeKalb. He said there are 58 gardens around the county and funding for them comes from fundraisers, donations and different local grants.

Pegy said the DCCG is not providing food from their garden because of Illinois’ limited growing season. She said the DCCG is starting to plant now and will be able to provide their own produce from late May to early October.

Pegy said the vegetables to be available late May include greens, like kale, lettuce, herbs, chives and spring onions. She said further into the summer, the DCCG can provide seasonal produce, like strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and peppers, and by fall, there will be melons, squash, potatoes, onions and garlic available.

“When we don’t have produce we can provide, we do have a partnership with Northern Illinois Food Bank,” Nagy said. “They can often give us vegetables to distribute, so we have often distributed onions and potatoes, lettuce, and apples and bananas.”

Kenney said the food grows in DCCG’s gardens and other locations in the community, like the involvement grow location farms where DCCG has an acre of vegetables. He said DCCG trains special needs individuals on the involvement grow location farms to grow and harvest the vegetables used in the Grow Mobile pantry.

Kenney said NIU Communiversity Gardens behind Anderson Hall provides some vegetables for the Grow Mobile as well. He said the farmers throughout the county will call DCCG when they are at their quota with a certain crop, and DCCG volunteers go in and pick the remaining crops.

Nagy said the Grow Mobile pantry also provides packaged foods, like healthy cereals, toddler snacks and cereal bars.

“We are pretty selective in what we accept in the food banks,” Nagy said. “[We] have a mission to provide healthy foods.”

Kenney said people have been really appreciative of the Grow Mobile pantry.

“Right now we are keeping it in the county because that is a big enough field for us,” Nagy said. “We don’t have any plans to expand outside the county.”

Nagy said the DCCG is concerned with student health and nutrition and would like to arrange a specific stop at NIU’s campus in the fall.

“DCCG is also looking at ways to increase the number of stops on campus or near campus so we can help provide food for people who are food insecure, who are also students or staff members at NIU,” Kenney said.