I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Madam, what can you call the roll?
Ted Odendahl?
Here.
Kathy Wilken?
Here.
Kathleen Altensey?
Here.
Kelvin McIlwain is recorded absent.
Supervisor Sellers?
Here.
Yeah, the corn.
The first roll of mint is a pool of mints for the July 6th to 26th meeting.
Any emotion at second, please?
Uh-huh.
I'll give you the second guy.
I'll second it.
Okay, thank you.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
What's the matter?
I'll take another one.
Please take a little bit of mints if you haven't done so already.
The question on item number six, the number.
Keep it right.
We're not knowing now about blank units served by Golden Wheel.
What is that number again?
What number?
O'Neill.
Also 110,000 units.
Yeah, you should have a corrected version in front of you.
I changed that on there, so you should have that corrected version.
Because I have it right here that I corrected that.
Well, what the hell did I give you?
It wasn't corrected Oh, the one at the top.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
The one in the paragraph does not say that.
Sorry, thank you for bringing that up.
I will fix that.
I guess my question is, it says collecting numbers those served from our donations, every, we're not saying that 110,000 meals were served from our donations.
It's 110,000 units of food served, 870 meals per day was served.
From what we donated?
Yeah, from what we helped donate, yes.
And what did we donate?
We donated five was it five thousand?
I thought it was ten thousand we did eighteen thousand we did five for each major and then I think smaller ones got smaller amounts with Salvation Army, the biggest one so our money helped to provide that I didn't say our money provided all of it We help to provide.
Okay, that was what I was trying to understand.
Okay.
Any more questions on minutes for Steve?
No.
Okay, all in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
The motion carries.
The next 12 minutes is the approval of bills payable.
Any motion to second, please?
So moved.
I'll second it.
All right.
Motion passed.
All in peace.
I'll work on peace.
Take a look at bills payable.
Let's say I haven't done so already.
That's pretty slim this time, isn't it?
It is.
Question on the Goodwill occasion.
What was that all about?
Goodwill?
Contributing on that particular day or do you just pay on that day?
That's the day we pay.
Okay.
That's the day we pay.
So clients can use Goodwill to help with household items and clothing and things of that nature.
They can use their voucher to do that.
So that's the day that it was actually paid on.
No, not everybody went to Goodwill on the 13th at the same time.
No, uh-uh.
Good question, though, yeah, but no.
Any further questions on claims and amends, Trustee?
No, sir.
Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
Wilken?
Aye.
Altensey?
Aye.
Odendahl?
Aye.
Sellers?
Aye.
Motion passes.
The next order of business is the supervisors report and I have things to hand out.
Yay.
All right.
This is the expenditure of the budget report and I am going to We also hand out our settlement disbursement sheet that we get.
This is our first disbursement from the Stephenson County Treasurer Disbursement.
That's disbursement.
What number is this?
Does it say first disbursement?
That's the first one.
Sorry, I'm sorry.
Also, trustees, you will find I have handed out a copy of a report which talks about our funding donation to the food countries and how our funding helps.
The background states, in response to recent reductions in supplemental nutrition assistance programs, SNAP benefits, and the resulting increase in food insecurity among Freeport residents, Freeport Township had allocated 18,000 to local food pantries.
These funds were being directed to the Northern North Food Bank accounts of participating local pantries, enabling them to purchase food directly and efficiently at scale.
This action reflects the Township's continuing commitment to ensuring Golden Mills, 110 units of food delivered, Joseph Pantry, 2760 families, New Jerusalem, Pantry serves 360 families, Heart Steak Care serves 540 families, and Salvation Army serves 3200 families during that six month period.
So from November to May.
This month was the service of those two groups.
Combined with Joseph's Pantry New Jewelers from Heart Steak Care and Salvation Army, it provided direct food assistance to 6,860 people and families.
Senior Center Golden Mills with Township Assists delivered 110,000 units of food to local residents with particular focus on senior nutrition.
Township funding action on November 5, 2025, Township announced the allocation of $18,000 to support local food pantry participating in the Illinois Food Bank Network.
Each participating pantry will receive a designated portion of these The data reported by our community partners demonstrate a significant and ongoing need for food assistance across Freeport.
The Township's $18,000 allocation to the Northern Illinois Food Bank Network directly supports the organization in delivering this relief, ensuring resources reach residents efficiently and without unnecessary administrative delay, the supervisor's office will continue to monitor food assistance needs in the community and will report further outcomes to the board as additional data becomes available or when things become necessary we need to step in and help out.
Okay?
Have any questions, trustees, on what I just read?
Yes?
Do you, offhand, do you know the dollar amounts to each of the.
The dollar, you should have dollar amounts inside your folder, because we are headed that out.
Uh huh.
It should be in there.
Um, if not, what I can do is I can get those dollar amounts, these specific dollar amounts, which each one of them got, and give them to you for the next meeting.
But I know Golden Mills, if I'm not mistaken, got five.
Joseph Pantry got five.
Salvation Army got five.
And I think I'm thinking so when somebody gets it well I'll get you the exact number so I know the major ones got five but I'll get you the exact numbers for the next meeting or before or by the end of the meeting I should have those all right I guess I just comment that seems a very efficient way Thank you.
Thank you and thank you board for voting yes and agreeing for this to happen because it was necessary.
So thank you guys very, very much for your quick responses and for being willing to help provide this assistance.
So is this going to, are we going to do this again?
Are we going to have enough funds to?
As the need arises, I'm paying very, very close attention to what's going on with SNAP benefits and the new rules and regulations, and I'm paying more close attention to the phone calls we're receiving from individuals who are not clients and who are not calling for counseling assistance, but calling for food assistance.
I'm just thankful that we are in a position where we can help and that this information is brought to us because we are a street level organization.
So when something happens we hear about it instantly.
So we don't have to worry about it fumbling through the channels.
We pretty much hear about it from people because they're calling.
And when we work well with other organizations who will call and tell us, hey, we're hearing this, we're hearing that.
So we all kind of work together that way as well.
I really haven't heard too much about on the news about SNAP benefits, but as soon as I say that, I'll go home and watch the news and it'll.
What I think about it is the damage has already been done.
Oh yeah.
So it's not a whole lot to talk about on the news, the damage is done.
So I mean, I understand that there are work requirements.
I get it.
But when they increase that significantly, and it kind of throws people off, especially people who have families and they have kids and they have a group, and they don't have any, you know, daycare or child care, that could affect as well.
So we have to look at all those different little areas.
It's very detailed.
Maybe I'm going off track here, but when my kids were going to Pearl City Schools, Little Missy was 12 when Ben was born, but they made the back end of the school by the gym a daycare center.
And even during the summer, the kids could go there.
Well, if I'm not mistaken, I think it was either last year or the year before we were in contact with the school district about talking about something like that and having to where they could designate a classroom or some rooms to have some sort of daycare there.
I don't know if it fell through, if it's still in the plans, I don't know.
But I would reach back out to the district because you know they're going through some serious changes now.
So a lot of things that may have been on the table before may not be on the table now.
So, you know, I'll definitely reach back out and talk to the superintendent about it if they have any more conversation about it.
It was a big help when my son was in kindergarten because he's really in kindergarten for half a day and go to daycare.
And it was a lot cheaper than having to go to Open Bible or other places that had been established for decades.
But please understand this, as things change, prices change.
Oh yeah.
And so, I couldn't believe the price of daycare when my niece told me.
I was like, what?
It's horrible.
It's very high.
It's extremely high.
And so, you know, yeah, that's a whole nother area.
And not to put McDonald's down, but you cannot survive on that type of income.
You know, you can't.
There's no way.
So, you can't pay your food and you can't pay your daycare and housing, it's all boggled down.
And it shrunk.
Do you have any more questions for me?
No sir, no.
I told you.
The next order of business is the assessors report.
Alright, the next order of business is trustees report, trustees.
Can I ask something about that?
I was going to say the same thing.
I was too.
I understand that they go out and do community things, correct?
We try to get work opportunities for students and we try to make those valuable by connecting them with community.
Well, one of the things that somebody brought up, and I don't remember who, that on Demeter They tore down all those beautiful trees.
I know.
And I'm just thinking when they're done doing what they're doing, can they yield people to put in new trees?
Doesn't the city provide, wouldn't they provide new trees to put down there for them to put in?
It's going to widen the street.
We've actually planted about 150 trees this year.
Okay, good.
Did they also do it on the entrance to Cray Park?
Cut a bunch of trees down?
They did, but the park has replaced.
Yeah, that's a department.
We do that.
Anyway, I just thought maybe for the future project that would be a good, because those trees are nice.
I'll add to you, you missed all the trees on your part of the street, too.
It was pretty to go drive down with all that, those trees.
I was just a thought.
I didn't know if they did that, but that's.
We have, we certainly have done some of that for individuals who did get a notice, well I think they may have gotten a notice on the township, they got a notice on the township website, and I know they could have gotten a notice on the city website, People were interested in giving trees contact.
Now there's some limitations because we had limitations on how trees were given and they were primarily oaks and so they needed to be in locations where a large, ultimately a large tree was suitable and the city is trying to keep those away from sidewalks.
I get that.
I understand that.
And they don't want them planted in between the sidewalk and the road.
When the acorns fall?
No.
No, when the electric company comes and kills your tree.
So we had, there were several people that contacted us, and then we kind of said, this is the limitation, so we need to think of a means to build that kind of a workforce.
So there's obviously a need for smaller trees.
If they provided the tree, would that be something that the yield could be developed when?
If they, the owner provided, because if I lived on that street, I'd provide a certain kind of tree that I'd like to plant.
Yeah, we certainly could.
The part of the, I won't say problem, part of the complication that's doing things in the community is that we don't always have yield students.
So, somebody calls up today and says, you know, can we get a yield student to do the work?
We don't have any yield students today.
Wednesday we'll start having them and then there'll be a couple weeks that we'll be going through safety training before we have them doing any kind of work.
This probably wouldn't be until way next year, but it's just something.
Yeah, if there were, especially if there were things planning ahead, because we're always looking for useful work opportunities where this is something they can get experience, but it's also actually valuable.
It's not just building the wall that's going to be taken apart.
What age group is it?
Above 18.
They can be at most.
They're not really students, are they?
They're students of the yield program.
Students of the yield.
Okay.
Sounds good.
Thank you.
Thank you for the info all right make sure there's public comments any public comments I always got something to say uh shane I just wanted to put you back up with the comment that I made last week about the uh school district doing food when they have stopped doing that for the summer so that will not start up again until the school year starts uh something that I would like to add to the conversation after that you know uh is that once the school year starts My kids usually get breakfast and lunch at the school.
So that might alleviate a little bit of the need once the school year starts.
But like what was said, there's probably going to be a need here in the next several weeks.
So whatever was donated, I'm sure, you know, it rises up in your pocket.
I'm sure the need won't be as great then, but as you know, not everybody goes to school, and not everybody gets speakers, so keep that in consideration when this need comes up again.
Thank you.
Now, I have information to hand out, to make sure I didn't want to forget that.
Is there any other business coming for the town, trustees?
No, as far as I'm concerned.
Okay.
Seeing that there is none, I intend to motion to adjourn until Monday, August 3rd, 2026 at 4:30 PM So moved.
Second.
Motion to adjourn.
In favor?
All right, any opposed?
Motion carries and you need to adjourn.
Thank you all so very, very much for attending on this, on this call to be a strong leader.