Jan 25, 2019 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – In 2016, Susan Cole of Franklin Township received a text message from her daughter, Myah, about the nationwide Little Free Pantry program.

“Are you up for the challenge?” the message read.

Sometimes called a Blessing Box, the network of pantries is now a resource for Greene County residents who can’t afford all the food they need.

Stocked with food and other necessities like toothbrushes, residents and local organizations regularly replenish them to help those who may need a hand. Those who wish to take something are welcome; those who wish to leave something may do so. There is no income guideline for the program that relies on the kindness of strangers to assist those around them.

“I’m surprised at how quickly they empty,” Cole said. “I think it expresses that there is a need.”

Greene County’s rate of food insecurity – not having reliable access to enough nutritious, affordable food – rose from 12.9 percent in 2014 to 14 percent in 2016, according to Feeding America, a nonprofit network of food banks and hunger resources across the nation. That year the county’s child food insecurity rate was 21 percent.

Since she embarked on the project, Cole said there have been five pantries built to be put at different areas in the county. The first was placed last year outside her church, First Presbyterian in Waynesburg. The other pantries have been planned for or were already placed at Eva K. Bowlby Public Library in Waynesburg, Flenniken Public Library in Carmichaels, First Brethren Church in Aleppo and Spraggs United Methodist Church in Spraggs.

Blake Connard, Flenniken Library’s front desk clerk, said the library has had its pantry set up for three months.

“It’s constantly full, people usually take out of it each day,” Connard said. Library workers and patrons from the community fill it consistently.

Kathy McClure, the director of Bowlby Public Library, said she picked up the pantry two weeks ago. Because it is larger than she anticipated, McClure said it hasn’t been installed yet. She hopes to get it up in the next few weeks.

“We’re really excited about getting it up and being able to offer that service because we all know there are people who need that,” McClure said.

Mary Redman attends Spraggs United Methodist Church. She recalled Cole approaching her pastor to see if the church could place a pantry outside.

“There are people who don’t qualify for (government) food help because of income but there are times they come up short for food,” Redman said. “With this you don’t have to qualify financially.”

Redman said she refills the box outside her church twice a week. Around the holidays she said she fills it every other day.

“It’s nice to know it’s being used and that we are a help in the community,” Redman said.

Cole said the first pantry was built by David Pollock, a deacon at her church.

The remaining four were built by students at the Greene County Career and Technology Center, said Bettie Stammerjohn, executive director of the Community Foundation of Greene County. Those were finished in the fall of 2017, and the locations were tasked with picking up the weatherproof pantries, installing and maintaining them.

Stammerjohn and the foundation, Cole said, “came to the rescue” as she tried to figure out how to get the project off the ground, helping to secure a grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. The Greene County Food Security Partnership also came aboard to help place the pantries.

While Cole said she had some concern that the pantries may be vandalized, Redman and Connard said there have been no issues.

“It’s just worked the way it should,” Cole said.

As the pantry program continues to grow and flourish, Cole is hopeful more people come on board to help.

“It’s reliant on the goodness of people in the neighborhood,” she said.

For questions or to get involved call the First Presbyterian Church at 724-627-6006.