Marie Wilkinson’s legacy of fighting hunger for community neighbors is at the forefront of the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry (MWFP), and a recent donor gift has made that mission even more possible.
Friend of the MWFP, Joseph Izzo, formed a nonprofit called RationAll Food Rescue, where he rescued food from grocery stores, restaurants, and other businesses, and delivered food to food pantries and shelters. Unfortunately, Joe lost his fight against cancer. Shortly after, his board voted to dissolve RationAll and divert the funds from his life insurance policy to the MWFP. In tribute to Joe, MWFP used those funds to purchase a food waste composter in his name called “The Izzo.”
“We know that helping people today is important, and we know that preserving the environment by making sustainability our way of life is key to ensuring a brighter future for those we would serve,” said Diane Renner, executive director of MWFP.
“Those goals and values are embodied in the recent gift of a composter.” The composter is a perfect complement to the MWFP’s environmental sustainability program recycling cardboard, plastic, cans and styrofoam. MWFP works hard to make choices that positively impact the environment while being careful stewards of resources: The composter supports both goals.
Since getting established with MWFP this spring, The Izzo has been digesting 150 pounds. of food scraps, moldy breads, dried leaves, coffee grounds and slimy produce per day, over the past month. Soil that is removed from the composter goes into a two-week curing plot(s) before getting added to MWFP’s urban farm beds. Marie’s Urban Farm was developed in 2015 and continuously expands, producing over 5,000 pounds of produce for the pantry to share with guests.
Most recently, MWFP has obtained a grant from Illinois Farmers Market Association for Subpods, it is an innovative compost system and worm farm. They will be installing 6 subpods around the pantry building to increase their food waste initiative and help bring awareness at the simplicity of home composting.
—Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry