Pat's Pantry Hosts Food Drive At Mt. Greenwood Community Church

CHICAGO — Pat Turney was a nice kid, who grew up to become a loveable man. He was the grandson of two proud Mt. Greenwood families — the Turneys and the Cavallones. He played baseball in the fields on 115th Street, where he was always captain of the team. If you needed 50 yards of dirt moved, he showed up in your back yard before you hung up the phone. Turney was a graduate of Chicago Ag, where he attended with his twin brother, Jimmy, and got along with all the high school groups.

Known as the unofficial “mayor of Mount Greenwood,” Turney was working toward his goal of a career in law enforcement with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, when he died tragically at age 23 in 2019.

After her son's death, Kathy Cavallone-Turney wanted to honor Pat’s memory in a way that not only reflected his love for his Mount Greenwood neighbors, but for all humanity.

“Everybody loved Pat, and they still honestly do,” Kathy Cavallone-Turney said. “He waved and smiled at everybody. He was friends with so many people, He never spoke bad about anybody.”

At first, Cavallone-Turney thought about a community garden that would distribute produce to residents facing financial hardship, but the timing wasn’t right because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tim Noonan, of the 19th Ward Mutual Aid, brought up the possibility of forming a food pantry to address the growing hunger problem brought on by the pandemic.

Cavallone-Turney approached Pastor Bill Crowder at Mount Greenwood Community Church, 3509 W. 111th St., Chicago, about expanding a food closet. There, she ran into her childhood friend Mikki Carping, who was making soup. The childhood friends got busy organizing Mount Greenwood’s first food pantry.

The church food closet was expanded to a 20-by-15-foot room, with shelving for non-perishable food, along with two freezers and an industrial-sized refrigerator. In March, Pat’s Pantry began distributing food to help people hard hit by the pandemic feed themselves and their hungry families.

“Patrick always helped everybody,” Carping said. “He’d be so happy to know that we are doing something in his name by being nice to people. Everybody needs help sometimes. If someone lives 30 miles away the can come here. Just tell us how many people you’re feeding.”

On Thursday, May 27, Pat’s Pantry is holding a no-contact, drive-up food drive at Mount Greenwood Church, 3509 W 111th St, Chicago. From 10 a.m. to noon, residents are invited to drop off non-perishable foods as well as personal care items, including canned vegetables and fruit, boxed oatmeal, apple sauce, pasta/pasta sauce, tuna, canned soup, cooking oil, jelly/jam, peanut butter, nuts and rice.

Pat’s Pantry also distributes personal care items, including bandages, deodorant, feminine products, paper towels, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, toothbrushes/toothpaste and grocery store gift cards. Monetary donations are welcome.

Food is distributed every Wednesday from 3 to 6 p.m. Donations of food and personal care items can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to noon on the third Saturday of each month. For more information, or to volunteer, email Kathy Cavillone-Turney at PatsPantryMtgcc@gmail.com or call 773-238-0067.