AMBOY – For the last 30 years Teen Turf has been helping children and families in any way possible.

Well, the non-profit organization’s efforts recently increased with the welcoming of the Rural Mini Food Center in association with the Ogle County Health Department.

The food center which includes a pantry and a refrigerator in a wooden shelter outside the front door of Teen Turf was made official with a ribbon cutting on Thursday, June 20.

“We applied for a planning grant in 2022 to 2023 and this is the implementation of that planning grant, which is the action grant, Addressing Conditions To Improve Population Health,” said Joyce Lewis, the Ogle County Health Department’s grant coordinator. “It’s a three-year grant and it’s $500,000 each year. That helps bring projects such as the mini food centers, education, we’re piloting a community garden, we’re doing gardening classes in collaboration with University of Illinois Extension.

“We had been putting feelers out with our different leadership groups in four counties -- Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, and Carroll. I was given Teen Turf’s information and I contacted them. We met in mid-February, and they wanted to be a hosting center within the first five minutes of our conversation.”

A Rural Mini Food Center, which is what the health department has named them but each location is welcome to change the name, was delivered or constructed at four different sights.

Amboy, Oregon, and Mt. Carroll had food center shelters delivered, while the wooden frame was constructed in front of the Young Women’s Christian Association in Sterling.

All four of the wooden structures were built by Oregon Junior High and High School students led by the woodshop teacher, Seth McMillian. 

“This was the third one installed and we installed four mini food centers from May 22 through May 31,” Lewis said. “We have one in each county. We’ve been planning since January. There is a lot of planning that has went into it. We’re hard workers. We have a group of four of us at the Ogle County Health Department working on the action grant. There are only two of us who are full-time employees on the grant, and we have our director and our administrator who assist.

“One of the biggest things behind this program is to reduce stigma and how people feel or assumptions about people who need to ask or receive help. Nobody knows someone else’s circumstances. Everyone needs to have compassion and empathy.” 

Teen Turf has already seen the benefits.

Director Eileen Piper and assistant director Pam Thomas have seen the stock of the mini food center picked up by citizens and stocked by the OCHD, which comes every Tuesday to restock the shelves of the pantry and refrigerator that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We’ve had a number of people come and utilize the pantry. The parents of the kids who come to Teen Turf use it,” Thomas said. “They ask if they have to write their name down. They do not because it is totally anonymous. They’ve also asked what they can donate. Our families are just grateful. Pairing with Summer Eats through United Way of Lee County and having this on top of it, families don’t have to stress so much. They can get food and feel comfortable.

“We’ll take it over October 1 and it’ll be our responsibility to fill it then. It’s under the Ogle County Health Department until then beecause they’re the hosting center.”

Piper is thrilled OCHD contacted Teen Turf and that it is able to help the community in another way.

She is proud Teen Turf is able to do it in a way best fit for those who need the help.

“The thing we have to be careful with is trying not to look when people come to the food center when we are here,” Piper said. “It’s anonymous and we want to always keep it that way. We want everyone who needs food to feel comfortable to come here to get it without any negatives. 

“We want people to get past that. Teen Turf is blessed in the fact people know the organization here and know we’re not going to judge, and we’re not judged.”

There is a log inside the Rural Mini Food Center, both Teen Turf and the Ogle County Health Department, would like participants to fill out in order to know what has been taken or what has been donated. Identities don’t have to be shared, just the numbers to keep the food center full and beneficial to all.