An EF0 tornado tore threw Wheaton Monday.
The People's Resource Center, which serves about 600 families through its food pantry each week, lost electricity during Monday's storms. As a result, food stored in freezers and refrigerators spoiled and had to be thrown away, according to Food Pantry Supervisor Megan Ernsteen.
"There were some smells; there was some pretty bad food in there because they had been without power for 14 hours," Ernsteen said.
In total, the pantry discarded three tons of food. Staff reviewed refrigerated and frozen items to determine what could safely remain.
"We went, threw out everything we had left in our fridge and in the freezer. We went through and double-checked everything to see what we needed to throw out, which was a big portion. We used what we could, but we don't want our neighbors to get sick," Ernsteen said.
The pantry canceled its regular Tuesday hours as crews worked through the transition and food losses. Even so, the organization served 50 families that day with the food that remained available.
Volunteer Charles Hold said some visitors were dealing with storm-related hardships of their own.
"Number of them told me they have no electric; they lost all their food," Hold said.
Hold, a longtime volunteer, traveled through blocked streets Tuesday to assist at the pantry. He said he is accustomed to helping load groceries into neighbors' vehicles, but had never seen so much food thrown away.
"Painful, I'd like to see an empty dumpster," Hold said.
The pantry has spent the days since the outage restocking supplies and continues to seek support to help provide needed items to neighbors.
"We've seen a lot of trees down in the area. There's a lot of people that are hurting. And so the community still showing up for us has really been incredible," Ernsteen said.
Staff and volunteers said they are grateful for the support support donations that are helping replenish perishable food items as recovery efforts continue across the area.