Fire Damages Tinley Park Food Pantry, Resale Shop

TINLEY PARK, IL — Social services agency Together We Cope will be closed temporarily due to a fire Monday morning, staff said via social media. But without a working sprinkler system, the damage could have been much worse, said Tinley Park Fire Chief Steve Klotz.

Tinley Park firefighters were called to the building, 17010 Oak Park Ave., around 7:16 a.m. Monday, Klotz said, after an automatic fire alarm was triggered. Smoke in the building was traced to the sorting room in Nu2u, the agency's re-sale shop. An effective sprinkler system held the fire in check, Klotz said, and Tinley Park crews with assistance from Orland and Oak Forest were able to find the source quickly. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but authorities currently have no reason to suspect any foul play, Klotz said.

"Sometimes, finding a fire when there’s that much smoke is like finding a needle in a haystack, but they did it quickly and efficiently," Klotz said.

Smoke and water damage impacted many of the items in the shop, and also ruined many of the contents of the adjacent food pantry, said Marge Seltzner, director of communications for Together We Cope. The loss comes at terrible timing for the agency, which was preparing to distribute Thanksgiving meals to 300 families.

"It's three days before Thanksgiving, and we were all geared up to distribute Thanksgiving dinners," Seltzner told Patch. "Any other week it would have been an unfortunate interruption of our services, but being that it's Thanksgiving week, we're mostly concerned about our clients and getting food to our clients."

Klotz said the damage was minimal, but Seltzner said Together We Cope leaders anticipate they could be closed up to two weeks. The agency's board president estimates they endured about $200,000 in damage, Seltzer said, and that they will have to dispose of many items in the food pantry. They're also seeking help from area agencies.

"As luck would have it, we had picked up a big turkey donation over the weekend, and we left them in the truck to begin defrosting, so those were all safe," Seltzner said. "... We are contacting other agencies in the south suburban agency to see if they would like our turkeys to distribute.

"If they're willing to distribute our turkeys, we'd hopefully be able to send our clients there."

Typically, clients would receive a frozen turkey and two bags of food—stuffing, gravy, vegetables and pie, Seltzner said. The stock they had accrued has been ruined by the smoke and water damage, she said.

"We have to throw it all away now."

Due to a turkey shortage this year, the agency's meat distribution was to be turkeys, hams and assorted chicken packages. All of those meats were provided by the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and all are safely deep-frozen in our truck. The agency also received some gift cards to local grocery stores for distribution to clients. Anyone who might be able to assist with distributing the remaining meat should contact Seltzner at mseltzner@togetherwecope.org.

The resale shop—a major revenue source for the agency—also suffered extensive damage, Seltzner said. The shop accepts donations of clothing, shoes and accessories, and home furnishings.

"We're going to have to start over in the shop," Seltzner said.

With over 200 volunteers, community donations of food, clothing and household goods, and groceries purchased from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the agency serves more than 1,500 families each month. Their services reach 27 communities, including Alsip, Blue Island, Bridgeview, Chicago Ridge, Country Club Hills, Crestwood, Evergreen Park, Garden Homes, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Hickory Hills, Hometown, Homewood, Markham, Merrionette Park, Midlothian, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Orland Hills, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Posen, Robbins, Tinley Park and Worth. Find out more about Together We Cope.