Feeding one person at a Little Free Pantry

I’d never heard of Little Free Pantry until this morning when I read an article in a local online newspaper about a new LFP at the community center in Oracle, a town north of Tucson. It sounded like a great idea: set up a small box in front a home or business or community center, like the Little Free Libraries, and stock it with non-perishable food.

Many people who need more food don’t have cars to take them to Food Banks or aren’t available when Food Banks or other charitable organizations are open. This seemed to be an excellent no-questions-asked, hyper-local solution: walk to a nearby LFP, pick out some food, walk home.

So I looked up Little Free Pantry online and discovered there are four officially registered ones in Tucson. All seemed to be relatively new, compared to the Little Free Libraries. One caught my eye because it specialized in free items for women, like Tampax. So I grabbed a can of Campbell’s Chunky Sirloin soup from my pantry to donate and set out to see if these mini-food banks were still being used. At least one, in an affluent historic district, noted that it was set up in response to COVID 19 and it, understandably, turned out to be the one with the least food in it.

Four mini-food banks

I took a couple of wrong turns before I found “The Pantry” on 31st St. It’s the one that drew attention on local TV and online because of its focus on women and its location in a low income neighborhood. When I pulled into a parking space near it, I noticed a man approaching it so I took a photo. But by the time I walked over to the pantry, he had taken an interest in the books in an adjacent Little Free Library.

While this man looked through the books I took a few photos of the actual pantry. Instructions in both English and Spanish. Some women’s items, like make-up and lipstick. Four loaves of what looked like fairly fresh bread. So I added my can of Campbell’s Chunky Soup , took another photo and returned to my car, having smiled at the man who had said nothing to me.

I drove to the next corner, pulled a U-turn and came back by The Pantry. The man was gone. The doors were closed. I stopped and opened the doors. The Campbell’s Soup was gone as was a loaf of bread. So I can attest that at least this Little Free Pantry was helping to feed locals.

There were no people at the other 3 Little Free Pantries. Here is what I saw inside them.

Grab-n -Go lunches for anyone

Another hyper-local food solution during COVID 19: the day after schools in Arizona were closed in 2020, the school kitchens began producing Grab-and-Go lunches with sandwiches and fruit free to anyone who came to pick the bag up outside the schools. They were even being handed out at Pima County Libraries. Old, young, with or without children — no questions asked. Arizona schools opened again last Monday, so I assume this program has been discontinued.

Another “Little Free” hyper-local invention

The Little Free concept has moved into the world of backyard gardening with the rapid development of Little Free Plant Stands. You can read more about it in a post on my Hot Gardens website.

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We’ve had some more rain. Yesterday, March 26, 2021, the Republican Governor removed all COVID 19 restrictions throughout the state. Mayor Romero immediately announced that the mask mandate was still in effect in Tucson, no matter what the Governor said. Banner health and other hospitals and healthcare services also objected to the governor’s decision.