A truck backed up to the loading dock at the St. Charles Public Library Monday afternoon, packed with about 25 tubs and boxes of non-perishable food.

Among the donations readily visible were a can of Dakota’s Chili with Beans, a big box of Barilla pasta, Honey Nut Cheerios, a box of Honey-Maid Graham Crackers, a can of Progresso Chicken Pot Pie Style with Dumplings soup, single-servings of macaroni and cheese, bags of oatmeal and granola.

It was the first load of donations from Wild Rose Elementary School, Thompson Middle School and the St. Charles School District 303 administration building.

District 303 spokesman Michael Vaughn said Superintendent Paul Gordon sent a message just days before asking all students and staff bring something non-perishable on Halloween.

And they did.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Kristi Niedzwiecki, who does social media for the library. “That’s amazing.”

All 17 schools and the administration responded, Vaughn said.

Library spokeswoman Pam Salomone said the library’s pantry – known as the St. Charles Public Library Community Cabinet – which was just installed in February.

The cabinet was created by Aidan Miller of Troop 13 as his Eagle Scout project, Salamone said.

“We had no idea there was so much need for the food – the food insecurities in our area," Salomone said.

“We were having a hard time keeping it full because there was so much need. ... So we reached out to the community asking if they would like to sponsor the food for a month and do a donation drive,” Salomone said. “After we reached out, we almost had a whole year of businesses and nonprofits that wanted to donate and help out with food in the community.

Then the library relied on the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce to send out an email blast opening up the possibilities for even more support.

District 303 took on the month of October, setting it up as a challenge to all the schools, teachers and parents to bring in just one item on the last day of the month, Salomone said.

The district did a video to promote the food drive and Niedzwiecki circulated the information on social media.

The St. Charles East Golf Team also made a large donation, Salomone said in an email.

Businesses that have sponsored the community cabinet so far are: the St. Charles Rotary Breakfast, Kendall’s Kindness, St. Charles Public Library Foundation, Random Acts Matter, St. Charles Women’s Club, St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce Women’s Business Council, Reading Rainbows Book Club and the Strohschein Law Group.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have so many generous people in St. Charles and in the schools and our teachers to support a need that is more important now with the SNAP benefits,” Salomone said, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. “And it opened up this awareness to people that there’s more food insecurities in St. Charles than people know.”

Vaughn, Gordon and Isidro Duarte began unloading the truck, hauling boxes and bins to the library’s wheeled carts to move the food to the community cabinet.

The food is available to anyone who comes in while the library is open Salomone said, no questions asked.

While showing the cabinet to a reporter, an elderly man walked up and asked if he could have some food.

Salomone said yes.

“When we started this food pantry, we didn’t understand the need was greater than it was,” Salomone said. “It was wonderful to see it all come together ... and help with a need no one knew existed at this level.”

The donation drive was incidental to the Trump administration’s SNAP funding cut, scheduled to go into effect on Saturday, Nov. 1, due to the government shutdown.

Two federal judges ruled funding should continue the program, which helps low-income people buy groceries. The administration agreed to partially fund the SNAP program for November.