think of one child that is important to
you it could be your son perhaps your
daughter maybe even your neighbor now
mad that child not having a proper
breakfast going to school coming back
from school and going to bed hungry what
I also realized is that there is guilt
involved in acknowledging that that
child is hungry and approximately 100
children in McLean County in Illinois
are facing these similar situations on a
day-to-day basis and when I heard this
fact it left me unsettled and I felt
that it wasn’t just enough to feel pity
about the situation but something had to
be done
hunger in our communities is still a
prevailing issue that needs to be taken
very seriously in 2016 when I was in
seventh grade I saw a video about a lady
named Jessica McClure who started the
concept called a little free pantry in
her neighborhood and it made a
difference to hungry people around her
after seeing this video I too wanted to
start the little free pantry in our own
town as it was such a powerful compass
it was open 24/7 and was quite
accessible according to strong towns
there is no official database of how
many little free pantries there are as
they have gone by many different names
in many different countries but there
are an estimated of 500 to 1000 pantries
worldwide but how is the little Free
pantry that we started here in
Bloomington Illinois different from
those everywhere else
those pantries are managed and stocked
by its community members who come
forward to help and the people around
that area but the pantry that we started
here in Bloomington Illinois is
completely run and organized by students
from first grade to college we have over
50 volunteers who
all take turns and coordinate with each
other to stock the pantry on alternate
days it’s a complete student force now
we have when we started with eight
people the time came where we needed to
execute the project but we did not have
enough funds we needed about $500 to
start the pantry and get it going so we
decided to have a garage sale and a bake
sale and the community came forward and
helped us even the local fire department
drove by heard of our cause and decided
to buy all of our cookies but now you
might be asking how do these students
from first grade to college manage
initially we met at the park to discuss
days in which each volunteer would take
turns to fill the pantry but as we
talked to the students in our schools
and our friends about the little free
pantry and the project that we were
involved in the numbers grew more people
wanted to be involved so we realized
that we had to get better at organizing
we decided that our best solution would
be to download an app called whatsapp
where we would list States and
volunteers would put their name next to
a day to indicate that they would fill
it then this system started working out
very smoothly and after each volunteer
has taken their turn to fill the pantry
they send a picture to us and we put it
on her Facebook page letting the
community know that it is stocked ready
to go and not only does this build an
awareness but this motivates new
volunteers to join our little Free
pantry team initially when we started
some of our challenges were where do we
find the location the possibility of
vandalism what the pantry even be used
and would we include items other than
food with regard to the location finding
the location was the biggest stumbling
block it was to be located close to
where there is a need and it had to be
on a private property so one day I met
with
mayor and introduce my idea to him he
recommended me to reach out to a lady
named Karen Schmidt and things took off
from there I eventually met with normal
City Council member Scot Preston who
let’s use one of his properties at the
location where we would have the little
free pantry if you have seen any other
little free pantries they’re usually
wooden boxes where these volunteers help
stock it but our little free pantry
decided that we would use auctioned off
newspaper stands as the place where we
had the food we decided that we wanted
to invest the money on the food that
goes inside the pantry rather than
buying a completely new box finding the
location and reaching out to people was
difficult indeed as we are not a
registered 501 C 3 but the process
helped me learn a lot of things from
learning how to talk to people to
understanding how to work with them so
when some individuals expressed concern
over vandalism we were not deterred by
those fears and established it anyway we
spoke with the neighbors and initially
we went to the pantry almost every
single day to monitor if it was actually
being vandalized and after about two or
three months we were pretty sure that
the pantry was not going to be
mistreated the community was using the
pantry rather than abusing it and in the
last two years we have never seen the
pantry being vandalized but would people
even use the pantry how would they use
it if they did not even know about it we
needed to create an awareness about the
pantry so at the time we set up a
Facebook page and let people know about
it we would hand out flyers and inform
people that they were more than welcome
to use the pantry not only so that it
would benefit them but we wouldn’t have
surplus amounts of food and after
building a strong relationship with the
neighbor surrounding the pantry we
regularly asked them about the activity
around the area and how many people come
on a day-to-day basis on average three
to four people come every day and
sometimes even with their families while
some of the other pantries have similar
concepts where they
also include toiletries and hygiene
products our team made a conscious
decision to not include any items
besides food we started the little free
pantry in hopes to address hunger in our
communities so we decided to solely
focus on that not only was this our case
but if we had toiletries and hygiene
products it would increases our chance
of vandalism we also decided that we
would only accept non-perishable food
items as donation and not to accept any
cash we didn’t want to have any cash
flow on the system and we wanted to
focus on food distribution rather than
money management and as most of us are
under 16 our parents helped transport us
there to the location now after two
years we are still running and expanding
as we are making plans to start in
additional locations around town and to
make the existing pantry bigger you have
student-run meetings often where we
think about ways in which we can talk to
the schools that we go to in different
places around town to have a food drive
during months where we run low
especially winter time not only this but
we also have individuals in our
communities as well as organizations
that reach out to our Facebook page if
they need help in any way possible and
our little free pantry volunteers are
motivated to conduct multiple other
projects for example book drives to give
to the children in our neighborhoods who
need it – art sales – given those in
natural disasters around the world
starting and running the little Free
pantry has taught me many lessons
ranging from overcoming obstacles to
meeting goals and deadlines and learning
how to work with the team
our motto with the pantry is take what
you need and leave what you can when you
are in a point of life where something
is needed take whatever is needed but
when you’re finally back up on your feet
and capable of helping the people around
you help who ever again the cycle must
continue I am be excited and proud to be
a part the little free pantry team
it is very satisfying for all of us
volunteers to know that we are helping
at least somebody eat each day when
looking at the bigger picture of hunger
you see world hunger that still exists
today after so many initiatives
worldwide
it seems daunting but when each of us
think about ways in which we can help
the community around us action can be
taken
it seems realistic to execute actions
that help the people around us so if
people of all and similar concepts apply
these little free pantry ideas we can
ensure everyone in that area is properly
this does not need to be a huge
financial supporter effort but a system
where you can constantly rely on to get
food 24/7 can reduce the chances of
hunger mother Teresa once said if you
cannot feed a hundred people just feed
one and that is the concept that we are
trying to apply here the little free
pantry is by no means a permanent
solution to our Radek a world hunger but
it is one step to make the seemingly
daunting task of hunger in our
communities better for those around us
so think about that one kid you know
with no food and stomachs constantly
grumbling that itself is so difficult to
think about there are millions upon
millions of children and people who are
facing these situations on a day-to-day
basis their unimaginable so think about
what you can do in your own communities
whether it’s starting a similar little
free pantry in your area or it’s
educating the people around you your
friends your colleagues your neighbors
about the people in our on town who
could potentially need help we cannot
expect to build a house by dropping
bricks and cement and expecting
something to happen but we must lay the
bricks one by one so that the bricks
around and on top
can lay upon brick by brick layer by
layer of cement you can build a house
and I would like to leave you with one
quote to ponder about Nelson Mandela
once said we can change the world and
make it a better place but it is in your
hands to make a difference thank you [Applause]
you it could be your son perhaps your
daughter maybe even your neighbor now
mad that child not having a proper
breakfast going to school coming back
from school and going to bed hungry what
I also realized is that there is guilt
involved in acknowledging that that
child is hungry and approximately 100
children in McLean County in Illinois
are facing these similar situations on a
day-to-day basis and when I heard this
fact it left me unsettled and I felt
that it wasn’t just enough to feel pity
about the situation but something had to
be done
hunger in our communities is still a
prevailing issue that needs to be taken
very seriously in 2016 when I was in
seventh grade I saw a video about a lady
named Jessica McClure who started the
concept called a little free pantry in
her neighborhood and it made a
difference to hungry people around her
after seeing this video I too wanted to
start the little free pantry in our own
town as it was such a powerful compass
it was open 24/7 and was quite
accessible according to strong towns
there is no official database of how
many little free pantries there are as
they have gone by many different names
in many different countries but there
are an estimated of 500 to 1000 pantries
worldwide but how is the little Free
pantry that we started here in
Bloomington Illinois different from
those everywhere else
those pantries are managed and stocked
by its community members who come
forward to help and the people around
that area but the pantry that we started
here in Bloomington Illinois is
completely run and organized by students
from first grade to college we have over
50 volunteers who
all take turns and coordinate with each
other to stock the pantry on alternate
days it’s a complete student force now
we have when we started with eight
people the time came where we needed to
execute the project but we did not have
enough funds we needed about $500 to
start the pantry and get it going so we
decided to have a garage sale and a bake
sale and the community came forward and
helped us even the local fire department
drove by heard of our cause and decided
to buy all of our cookies but now you
might be asking how do these students
from first grade to college manage
initially we met at the park to discuss
days in which each volunteer would take
turns to fill the pantry but as we
talked to the students in our schools
and our friends about the little free
pantry and the project that we were
involved in the numbers grew more people
wanted to be involved so we realized
that we had to get better at organizing
we decided that our best solution would
be to download an app called whatsapp
where we would list States and
volunteers would put their name next to
a day to indicate that they would fill
it then this system started working out
very smoothly and after each volunteer
has taken their turn to fill the pantry
they send a picture to us and we put it
on her Facebook page letting the
community know that it is stocked ready
to go and not only does this build an
awareness but this motivates new
volunteers to join our little Free
pantry team initially when we started
some of our challenges were where do we
find the location the possibility of
vandalism what the pantry even be used
and would we include items other than
food with regard to the location finding
the location was the biggest stumbling
block it was to be located close to
where there is a need and it had to be
on a private property so one day I met
with
mayor and introduce my idea to him he
recommended me to reach out to a lady
named Karen Schmidt and things took off
from there I eventually met with normal
City Council member Scot Preston who
let’s use one of his properties at the
location where we would have the little
free pantry if you have seen any other
little free pantries they’re usually
wooden boxes where these volunteers help
stock it but our little free pantry
decided that we would use auctioned off
newspaper stands as the place where we
had the food we decided that we wanted
to invest the money on the food that
goes inside the pantry rather than
buying a completely new box finding the
location and reaching out to people was
difficult indeed as we are not a
registered 501 C 3 but the process
helped me learn a lot of things from
learning how to talk to people to
understanding how to work with them so
when some individuals expressed concern
over vandalism we were not deterred by
those fears and established it anyway we
spoke with the neighbors and initially
we went to the pantry almost every
single day to monitor if it was actually
being vandalized and after about two or
three months we were pretty sure that
the pantry was not going to be
mistreated the community was using the
pantry rather than abusing it and in the
last two years we have never seen the
pantry being vandalized but would people
even use the pantry how would they use
it if they did not even know about it we
needed to create an awareness about the
pantry so at the time we set up a
Facebook page and let people know about
it we would hand out flyers and inform
people that they were more than welcome
to use the pantry not only so that it
would benefit them but we wouldn’t have
surplus amounts of food and after
building a strong relationship with the
neighbor surrounding the pantry we
regularly asked them about the activity
around the area and how many people come
on a day-to-day basis on average three
to four people come every day and
sometimes even with their families while
some of the other pantries have similar
concepts where they
also include toiletries and hygiene
products our team made a conscious
decision to not include any items
besides food we started the little free
pantry in hopes to address hunger in our
communities so we decided to solely
focus on that not only was this our case
but if we had toiletries and hygiene
products it would increases our chance
of vandalism we also decided that we
would only accept non-perishable food
items as donation and not to accept any
cash we didn’t want to have any cash
flow on the system and we wanted to
focus on food distribution rather than
money management and as most of us are
under 16 our parents helped transport us
there to the location now after two
years we are still running and expanding
as we are making plans to start in
additional locations around town and to
make the existing pantry bigger you have
student-run meetings often where we
think about ways in which we can talk to
the schools that we go to in different
places around town to have a food drive
during months where we run low
especially winter time not only this but
we also have individuals in our
communities as well as organizations
that reach out to our Facebook page if
they need help in any way possible and
our little free pantry volunteers are
motivated to conduct multiple other
projects for example book drives to give
to the children in our neighborhoods who
need it – art sales – given those in
natural disasters around the world
starting and running the little Free
pantry has taught me many lessons
ranging from overcoming obstacles to
meeting goals and deadlines and learning
how to work with the team
our motto with the pantry is take what
you need and leave what you can when you
are in a point of life where something
is needed take whatever is needed but
when you’re finally back up on your feet
and capable of helping the people around
you help who ever again the cycle must
continue I am be excited and proud to be
a part the little free pantry team
it is very satisfying for all of us
volunteers to know that we are helping
at least somebody eat each day when
looking at the bigger picture of hunger
you see world hunger that still exists
today after so many initiatives
worldwide
it seems daunting but when each of us
think about ways in which we can help
the community around us action can be
taken
it seems realistic to execute actions
that help the people around us so if
people of all and similar concepts apply
these little free pantry ideas we can
ensure everyone in that area is properly
this does not need to be a huge
financial supporter effort but a system
where you can constantly rely on to get
food 24/7 can reduce the chances of
hunger mother Teresa once said if you
cannot feed a hundred people just feed
one and that is the concept that we are
trying to apply here the little free
pantry is by no means a permanent
solution to our Radek a world hunger but
it is one step to make the seemingly
daunting task of hunger in our
communities better for those around us
so think about that one kid you know
with no food and stomachs constantly
grumbling that itself is so difficult to
think about there are millions upon
millions of children and people who are
facing these situations on a day-to-day
basis their unimaginable so think about
what you can do in your own communities
whether it’s starting a similar little
free pantry in your area or it’s
educating the people around you your
friends your colleagues your neighbors
about the people in our on town who
could potentially need help we cannot
expect to build a house by dropping
bricks and cement and expecting
something to happen but we must lay the
bricks one by one so that the bricks
around and on top
can lay upon brick by brick layer by
layer of cement you can build a house
and I would like to leave you with one
quote to ponder about Nelson Mandela
once said we can change the world and
make it a better place but it is in your
hands to make a difference thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: