Teen builds food pantries for people in need

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — A high school senior in Sacramento is going above and beyond to help people in need during the pandemic. She’s building high-tech neighborhood food pantries to help feed people this holiday season.

“I wanted to do something for the community,” said 18-year-old C.K. McClatchy High School student Ashley Jun.

For her senior project, which is a graduation requirement for all seniors in the Sacramento City Unified School District, Jun decided to help people who may be going hungry during the pandemic.

“Basically people can see it, they can walk up, they can look for something that they want, maybe something that looks tasty to them, and then they can just take it home,” Jun explained.

Jun knew she couldn’t build the boxes on her own, so she recruited her dad for help. He also drives her around town to replenish the shelves each night. He said he’s extremely proud of her.

“Not only is she a good student, she’s the student body vice president, she’s giving in her community, her school. She has a special needs brother that she also takes care of. So she’s a busy young girl, but at the same time she still gives at every opportunity,” Ashley’s father, Jasen Jun, said.

Ashley admitted she’s taken some items from her own pantry at home to place on the shelves, but she says she’s received a lot of help from the community, too.

“I’ve been able to help host a canned food drive a couple times and people have been so generous with being able to let me pick up some extra cans that they may not use or some extra non-perishable foods that they may not need,” Jun explained.

Some people have even been filling up the pantry boxes on their own.

To save time driving around town, a motion sensor sends her an email when the last items at the back are taken.

“If that moves, the sensor will tell me I need to refill the whole shelf and I’ll come back and restock,” she explained.

The white boxes with the McClatchy High School Lions logo in red are set up in four locations across Sacramento.

You can find them on Carlson Drive and State Avenue, 40th and H streets, 26th and Q streets, and on Portola Way and Franklin Boulevard.

Jun’s pantry boxes have been up for a month now, and she plans to keep them stocked through the end of January.

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