Giving Compass' Take:

• Little Free Pantries is an initiative in Seattle where residents are filling street pantries with dry goods for neighbors to use as they need. 

• How can donors help expand Little Free Pantries into rural areas or schools facing food insecurity brought on by the pandemic?

• Read more on how to help people facing food insecurity during COVID-19. 

In Seattle and cities around the United States, residents are helping their neighbors affected by COVID-related unemployment by building Little Free Pantries and filling them with dry goods.

“Pantries are a really cool concept because they are filling two needs,” Molly Harmon, personal chef and leader of the Little Free Pantry initiative in Seattle, tells Food Tank. “They…provide food for people who may need it, and it’s a way for [a] neighbor to give back.”

Residents stock each Little Free Pantry, a 3×3 box, with non-perishable food items and hygiene and sanitizing products. Those in need can take what they like anonymously, Harmon tells Food Tank. The concept is inspired by the Little Free Libraries initiative, a community based book exchange. Community members build boxes in front of their homes and fill them with books, which neighbors can borrow or trade.

Harmon began using her Little Free Library as a food pantry in 2014 to support her community. But, with COVID-19, she saw an opportunity to help even more people. She applied for and received a grant from The Awesome Foundation to build six more pantries around her neighborhood.

In an attempt to expand the project further, she also set up a GoFundMe page and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Since then her team, which consists of roughly 40 volunteers, has raised over US$4,000 and built 74 Little Free Pantries in the Seattle Metro Area.

In light of the initiative’s success, Harmon hopes to expand the pantries’ reach even further. She is working with food banks, schools, marketing teams, data experts, and others to implement similar Little Free Pantry initiatives in schools and more rural parts of Washington State. Ultimately, through the Little Free Pantry initiative, Harmon hopes people can better understand how food insecurity affects people in their own communities. She also encourages people to get involved and follow the project on Instagram.

Read the full article about little free pantries by Hannah Schlueter at Food Tank.