HUNTLEY – Ryan Czarnecki is like his peers in some ways – still trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life and competing on Huntley High School’s swimming team – but there’s one aspect that outshines the rest: his volunteerism.
Since he was a kid, Czarnecki has donated his time to various causes. He’s worked with an animal shelter, helping to write articles spotlighting the “adoptable pet of the month,” contributing to the newsletter, and helping with various drives for items like coats and food. But during his freshman year, Czarnecki took on a new assignment: helping at the Grafton Food Pantry.
“I have nothing but great things to say about the pantry. All I want to do is help make people aware of the issue of hunger in our community,” he said.
Czarnecki and the food pantry sponsored a food drive at the high school in 2012, and over the course of the week, they raised 1,000 items for donation.
“The pantry always sees a spike in donations during the holiday season, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but during this tax season, donations tend to drop heavily. I’m just hoping by this food drive, in addition to donating the items, that I can help spread awareness and get others to realize that though it’s not necessarily the season of giving, it’s still encouraged,” he said.
HHS student Ryan Czarnecki has organized two food drives at his high
school, the most recent bringing in 1,700 items on April 19. (Photo Provided)
Taylor Street Pizza in Algonquin agreed and sponsored a free pizza lunch to the classroom who donated the most items.
Czarnecki believes it helped fuel the drive during that week.
“Once it got out that there was free pizza, it spread through word of mouth pretty quickly, and I think more students decided to bring items in,” he said.
Czarnecki saw such a great response in that drive that he brought it back for a second year, and he plans to continue it even after he moves on to college.
“My sister will be taking over the food drive after I’m gone, but she knows this and is excited about it,” he said.
On Friday, April 19, Czarnecki gathered up the estimated 1,700 items donated by the Huntley High School Class of 2016 and delivered them to the pantry.
“I am so happy and grateful for the turn out of this year’s food drive,” he said. “The students of these two schools [Huntley and Marlowe] helped the over 300 families every month that use the Grafton Food Pantry, and helped give back to their community. I can only hope for an even greater turnout in the upcoming years.”
Czarnecki also believes publicity in within the school helped.
“There are videos being distributed, students are giving speeches with testimonies from the food pantry about the need for donations. We’re really getting the word out that hunger exists and we need to help it,” he said the Wednesday before the food drive ended.
In addition, he held a food drive at Marlowe Middle School earlier this month, garnering over 700 donations for the food pantry: “This is the first year that it happened, and I was really pleased with the result. It really helps stock their shelves. And to see the smiles on their faces really makes what I’m doing worth it.”
Czarnecki is planning another pet food drive, but isn’t sure if he will extend it beyond his neighborhood – where he hosted it last summer. No dates have been set for that drive, but he thinks it will happen during the summer.
While he has only organized drives for the middle school, high school, and his neighborhood, Czarnecki is hopeful for greater possibilities down the road, including a potential to organize a food drive for the pantry in all Consolidated School District 158 schools, and he may even organize something in Sun City.
“I haven’t really thought about that too much,” he said on organizing a drive in Sun City. “Maybe just something like donations at the clubhouse to benefit the pantry.”
Volunteerism comes down to one thing, Czarnecki said: seeing the smiles on the faces of those affected and seeing the difference a donation can make.
“There are families of like four or five that you don’t realize are struggling. This is the food that they need to survive, and they would be suffering if not for the pantry. If you can see the difference, it makes your heart stop. Anything you can give is outstanding,” he said.
More information about the pantry is available at graftonfoodpantry.org, including a full list of acceptable items for donation and opportunities to volunteer.
