Jan. 08--In the late 1970s, Roger Schmith and his wife wanted to provide emergency food to needy families at their parish church in Woodridge. They set up a small food pantry.
"It was literally a broom closet cleared out to make room for the food," said Schmith's wife of 39 years, Barbara. "But we managed to find a way to make it work."
The need -- and donations -- outgrew what could be provided through the small closet at St. Scholastica Catholic Church, and even the church itself.
The effort eventually became the West Suburban Community Pantry, which serves 47 communities in DuPage County. Last year, it provided perishable and nonperishable goods each month to nearly 4,500 people in the county and distributed more than 1.6 million pounds of food.
"Roger was an animated force in everything we did at the pantry," said Bob Wheeler, chairman of the pantry's board of directors. "The depth of his convictions and his unwavering determination to do whatever he could to eliminate hunger and make sure that no child ever went to bed hungry was beyond inspiring. He lifted so many lives."
Schmith, 75, died of cancer Monday in his Woodridge home.
"I look around and see how little is being done in our country by our elected leaders and it makes me feel bad," Wheeler said. "But what gives me hope are all the Rogers of the world that are actually out there accomplishing something."
After its beginnings at the church, the pantry moved in 1988 to the basement of a Woodridge Park District building, where Schmith took on the role of director of operations, a position he held until his health began to fail. In 2014 he stepped back from active management but continued serving as a board member.
"We were lucky to have that space, but we were constantly running up and down stairs and had to deal with freezing pipes during the winter," said his wife, who is also on the pantry's board of directors. "But Roger kept us all going. He was a loving and gentle man, who smiled with his eyes. He'd find just the right words to pick us up when the chips were down."
In 1992, the pantry became known as Woodridge Community Pantry and occupied the site of a former recycling center in Woodridge. In 2008, the pantry bought a 3,000 square-foot space in the Hobson Valley Industrial Park in the village with the help of a DuPage County Community Development Block Grant.
Two years later, the pantry changed its name to West Suburban Community Pantry to reflect the 47 communities within the county that it serves.
Born in Hospers, Iowa, Schmith grew up in a family of nine children, the son of a migrant worker. He did a stint with the Air National Guard, before landing a job in the compliance department at Little Audrey's Transportation Co., an Iowa trucking firm, in the mid-1960s.
He was transferred to company's Chicago office in the mid-1970s. He met his future wife there and the couple were married in 1976. From 1980 to 1994, Schmith worked as a manager of information systems for what is now Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook.
In 1983, he was ordained a Catholic deacon. He left Advocate in 1994 and became the director of religious studies at St. Irene Catholic Church in Warrenville. He later served in that same role at St. Alexander Catholic Church in Villa Park, before retiring in 2000.
Schmith also was a member of the Illinois Hunger Coalition and the Roundtable Association of Catholic Diocesan Social Action Directors, and was the legislative advocacy coordinator for the Joliet Diocese. Over the years he made numerous trips to Springfield to advocate before the state legislature on behalf of various social justice causes.
"Roger was a dedicated partner in ministry with me in years past," said Tom Garlitz, director of the Office for Human Dignity at the Joliet Diocese. "He brought leadership to our diocesan legislative advocacy committee, served with me as a representative from the Joliet Diocese to the Catholic Conference of Illinois Social Justice Department, and was a regular instructor for our Peace and Justice Institute, among other involvements."
Schmith was also a speaker at the national Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington and at the Diocesan Peace and Justice Institute on legislative advocacy.
Schmith is also survived by four sons, Scott Schmith, Matthew Kiskunas, David Schmith and Jeremy Schmith; two daughters, Gretchen Higgins and Andrea Schmith; four brothers, Charles, Robert, Nicholas and Arnold Schmith; a sister, Theresa Wenham; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services were held.
Joan Giangrasse Kates is a freelance reporter.
