The Illinois Valley Food Pantry’s fund drive to raise $750,000 to pay for its new building is more than halfway toward meeting its goal.

“We’ve raised $390,000 in just nine months,” executive director Mary Jo Credi said in a Monday press release.

The IV Food Pantry purchased a 10,000-square-foot, warehouse-style building at 4133 Progress Blvd., Peru last summer and moved into it in October.

The move coincided with the start of a “Feeding the Future” fund drive to raise $550,000 to pay for the mortgage on the building and another $200,000 to pay for needed modifications to it.

“People have been very generous,” Credi said, “but there has been one hiccup that we’ve had to deal with.”

The problem, she said, is that a recently-published account about a federal equipment grant awarded to the Pantry failed to mention that the grant can’t be used for mortgage payments.

“We’re grateful for the grant, but it wasn’t a direct cash award and it can’t be used to pay off the mortgage,” Credi said. “Some of our donors who had been making monthly online contributions to the fund drive stopped their payments after news of the grant was made public.”

She said the grant may eventually reimburse the pantry for expenses related to building improvements.

“Bottom line: we still need the fund drive to pay off the mortgage,” said Credi. “The pantry still needs donations for both the fund drive and to sustain daily operations.”

For information on how to donate to the “Feeding the Future” fund drive, go to www.ivfoodpantry.com.