Should DuPage Food Pantry Be Replaced: 2024 Election Referendum

WILL COUNTY, IL — Election Day is almost upon us, and while the presidential race of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is the biggest race on the ticket, there are several local races and referenda to keep an eye on as well.

The DuPage Township Board is asking voters about its food pantry facilities. DuPage Township serves Bolingbrook, and parts of Romeoville and Naperville.

The question on the ballot will read: Shall DuPage Township replace its Romeoville food pantry with a consolidated facility featuring a larger food pantry and resource center at the northeast corner of Canterbury Road and Lily Cache Lanes in Bolingbrook with revenues on hand from grant funds and with no property tax increase?

Plans for a new pantry have been underway for a few years. In 2023, the Township announced that it would close its Romeoville pantry once the new Bolingbrook facility was completed.

The Township has also secured federal funding for the project.

In January 2024, the Bolingbrook Village Board sent a proposal for the food pantry back to its plan commission, with the Village Attorney saying the proposal was incomplete and disjointed.

DuPage Township had applied to construct an approximately 11,000-square-foot building to house a food pantry, an office and a warehouse, according to village documents. The pantry and resource center is proposed to occupy a 1.46-acre site currently vacant and zoned as B-1 local retail.

The Township has not yet been back in front of the commission for any plans.

The food pantry is currently located at 719 Parkwood Ave., in Romeoville, and serves over 1,000 families a month, according to the Township website.

The township website states that 70 percent of people who use the pantry are Bolingbrook residents, 25 percent are Romeoville residents, and 5 percent are from other township sections.

20 percent of Township families qualify for pantry services, according to the website. In 2023, the pantry served nearly 8,300 households, or 25,000 people.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5. If you are already in line to vote when the polls close, you can still vote — so don't leave!

If you don't know your polling place, find it here.