By Terry James

BLOOMINGTON – After decades of feeding the hungry in Bloomington-Normal the Clare House is closing its doors.  The following press release was released Friday afternoon.

Terry James can be reached at [email protected].

After nearly 40 year of serving the Bloomington/Normal community, Clare House food pantry will close its doors after the traditional pre-Thanksgiving food distribution at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 25, 2015.   Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen at St. Mary’s Church, an out-growth of Clare House, will serve its last meal on Tuesday, November 24 from 11:30-12:30.

“When we created Clare House as a part of the Catholic Worker Movement in December of 1978, few of us imagined it would, with the generous support of this community, serve so many people in so many ways over the parts of five decades,” said Tina Sipula, founder and director of the program.

Sipula says she is retiring.

Clare House and Loaves and Fishes are volunteer organizations with no paid staff.  About 70 volunteers have selflessly served the many who have come to their doors in need, and some volunteers have been with the organization for decades.

Sipula emphasized that the closings do not reflect diminished community support.

“Year in and year out, the people of Bloomington/Normal and the surrounding communities have opened their hearts and pockets to us, enabling families to put food on their tables,” she said.  “Regardless of the state of the national and local economies, people have been supportive.”

For the past 20 years, the “Annual Holiday Food Drive,” sponsored by Dan O’Brien and Extreme Motors, B-104 and Radio Bloomington and Schnuck’s Supermarkets, has  helped raise nearly 9 semi-truck loads of food each November to keep the Clare House doors open.  Sipula expresses her gratitude for the talents, dedication and loving support of the many who have organized and volunteered to make each food drive an incredible success and for the thousands of people who have donated so generously over the years.

There are presently 12 food pantries operating in the Bloomington/Normal area, and Sipula hopes people will be supportive of them.  It is her prayer that another church or organization will step up to open their doors to take on opening another soup kitchen.

Both Clare House and Loaves and Fishes will continue to operate, handing out food and serving noon meals until the closing dates.  The last day they will accept donations is November 11.  Clare House is not an IRS qualified 501 (c) (3) organization.