The Kendall County Food Pantry provided the following news release:

Over 150 gift baskets, tickets to sporting events, and specialty trips, will be on the auction block on Saturday, May 7 during the Kendall County Food Pantry’s Stand by Me first fundraiser. The event begins at 5 p.m. at Whitetail Ridge Golf Club, 7671 Clubhouse Dr., Yorkville and will feature both a live and silent auction.

Maria Spaeth, executive director of the Food Pantry, and a team of volunteers have collected hundreds of items from businesses and services throughout the area specifically for the auction. The items range in value from $15 for a collection of gift cards to live auction items that are valued as high as $7,500.

“We literally have something for everyone,” said Spaeth. “Many of the baskets that we put together and items that will be auctioned off during the event are seasonal and are great gifts for weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. We didn’t leave anyone out.”

A few of the many baskets and items for sale include a hand-made quilt, a fishing basket, an i-Pod Touch and i-Pad; a GPS system and car entertainment package, designer handbags; a variety of spa treatments including facials, pedicures, and manicures; gourmet coffee baskets and coffeemakers, original art work, food baskets and gourmet specialty items, gift cards for Jimmy John's sandwich platters, pizza gift certificates, Mexican fiesta baskets, and much more.

In addition to the gift baskets a variety of special day trips and packages, sports tickets and memorabilia, an evening with Fred Hammelman’s Brass Quartet, and a vacation of a lifetime on an African Safari will also be auctioned off.

However, according to Spaeth, there are a few more surprises. "I'm inviting everyone to buy a ticket and find out what else we have to offer that evening," she said.

Stand by Me was launched by the organization to aid the ever increasing needs of low-income individuals and families in Kendall County. Funds raised from the event will be used to provide food and clothing to those in need in addition to a new project that Spaeth has appropriately titled Project Brown Bag.

In order to fund Project Brown Bag, which will provide a lunch this summer to every child who is currently in a school lunch program the pantry needs to raise over $25,000. According to Spaeth there are approximately 2,500 children in Kendall County that currently are enrolled in a school lunch program. The cost of providing a lunch is a little over a $1 per child.

For Spaeth, funding Project Brown Bag is essential.

“It’s about the children,” Spaeth said. “If we can raise $25,000 for the ‘fund in need’ we can feed all the children in the county this summer. That would be amazing.”

Sponsorship forms can be downloaded from the website at www.kcfpstandbyme.com. and sent directly to the Kendall County Food Pantry at 1204A Deer Street, Yorkville, IL 60560. The Kendall County Food Pantry is a 501-C3 not-for-profit organization and donations are tax deductible according to the provisions of the IRS.

The tickets to attend the May 7 fundraiser at Whitetail Ridge Golf Club, 7671 Clubhouse Dr., Yorkville, are $75 each or $700 for a table of 10 and can be purchased through the organization’s website at www.kendallcountyfoodpantry.org or by calling
630-853-3029.