Pay Down Library Fines with Food

patrons who owe fines for overdue materials can pay down their debt with canned goods and other nonperishable food donations during the library’s “Food for Fines” promotion this month.

Through Oct. 31, patrons will receive a $1 reduction in their owed fines for each nonperishable food item donated at the library. Donated items will be brought to the Vernon Township Food Pantry and the Northern Illinois Food Bank by program partners Graebel American Movers and Move for Hunger.

More than 1,300 food items were collected at the library’s previous Food for Fines program in January. A list of "critically needed items" on the Northern Illinois Food Bank website suggests donations of canned or dried beans, canned tuna, processed cheese, soups, stews, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, flour, pasta, rice, oatmeal, condiments and beverages. 

In 2010, Northern Illinois Food Bank distributed 35 million pounds of food to more than 500,000 people in 13 counties in northeastern Illinois, and was recognized by Feeding America as the 2010 Food Bank of the Year.

— Submitted by the Vernon Area Public Library