A twist on the little library addresses food insecurity
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV/KSMO) — The pandemic has left people out of work, and so many are now relying on food pantries to make ends meet.
For months there have been drive-through food distribution efforts, but one group of neighbors is taking a smaller approach to make a difference – turning the little library trend into petite pantries.
They call it KC Soul Pantry, red lockers filled with food. Each one has a motto: “Take what you need. Give when you can.” They started years ago but COVID-19 has added to both the need and the giving.
Kristen Hatch and Delaina Miller founded KC Soul Pantry almost four years ago.
“We saw an article in NPR,” Miller began.
“It was about people who had converted those little free libraries, and someone just started putting food in them,” Hatch continued.
It inspired them to create Kansas City’s first Soul Pantry outside their Waldo home at 77th and Cherry.
Other neighbors in the Waldo area began following suit. They now have 12 in the metro, most in Waldo and nearby neighborhoods, in addition to one in the Northland and one in Edgerton.
“We just put ours in right before Thanksgiving,” said Anita Crook.
Anita and David Crook started the newest Soul Pantry just a few weeks ago. They bring a little red wagon of supplies to the little red pantry in front of their home daily to stock up. They joined the effort because of COVID-19.
“Just knowing that so many people have lost their jobs,” Anita Crook responded when asked why she and her husband installed one.
Soon neighbors were dropping off contributions in droves.
“We have a neighbor who drops off cat food,” said David Crook. “I wouldn’t have thought of that. We’ve had people drop off supplies for babies and feminine products.”
“We also try to keep it pretty well stocked with some sanitizer and some face masks,” added Anita Crook.
Eleven-year-old Ava, a neighbor, came by with a few cans while KCTV5 was at the Crook home shooting video.
“This is my first time,” she said.
We visited her dad after she stopped by and he gave us permission to use her remarks.
The Soul Pantry is different from a pop-up pantry at an event space in Gardner that KCTV5 reported on Sunday night. It’s different from the large-scale drive-thru food distribution that’s been happening outside churches for months. It’s smaller scale than those but it’s also a grassroots effort that’s not limited to certain hours.
“If you needed to check on food at 10 o’clock at night when you’re driving by, you could look,” explained Hatch.
Hatch and Miller say when they began they thought the pantries would be used mostly by homeless people they see at Tower Park, across the street from their house, but they’ve noticed people drive up in cars. One woman left a note thanking them, saying the food would allow her to feed her kids until she got her paycheck the next day.
Most KC Soul Pantries started years ago. They are not just in yards but also at a preschool at 6175 Paseo, two churches at 77th-79th and Main, and outside a State Farm insurance office at 47th and Liberty in the West Plaza. Still, the COVID crisis has changed the project.
“We’ve seen an uptick in the pantry emptying but we’ve also seen an uptick in people donating,” said Miller.
For David Crook, it’s been a ray of light in a troubling time.
“I didn’t realize how much people wanted to give,” he said. “It kind of restored my faith in people.”
Besides shelf stable canned food, the group likes to stock things that don’t require a kitchen or can opener, things like Slim Jim type meat sticks and granola bars.
To find out where Soul Pantries are located, click here. You can also search Soul Pantry in google maps to find the nearest location.
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