I am not a numbers person.
I love words. And I love people.
But I recognize that some
people ARE numbers people, so that’s why I led will this piece with figures:
· Over 150 hours
· Spanning 56 days
· 7 adults (plus one as needed assistant)
· 5 kids
· Countless guests
Those numbers represent
what it took to run the Little Yellow Free Pantry (LYFP) over the summer so that
David and I could get away for a much-needed break.
Because you see, the LYFP
is not just a decoration on a street corner.
It’s not an afterthought.
It is a very intentional
and important part of our community.
It helps feed people. It gives them nourishment to have energy to
tackle their jobs. Or to focus in school. Or to take care of their family. Or to simply survive.
Yes, at 5 ½ years old, it has
become an integral part of the “food chain” in our community.
Like I said, I am not a
numbers person, so I don’t usually share this fact… But the Little Yellow Free Pantry gives away over
$83,000 of food and toiletries annually (I am sure that number is actually much
higher than that now with the price of groceries having risen so much).
Because of the importance
of the LYFP in our community, it is sometimes difficult for David and I to get
away. I feel guilty leaving the pantry
unattended.
Now, you might be
thinking, “Oh Susan, it will be fine.
Just let it run organically.
People will put things in there.
The guests will be fine. Don’t
worry.”
But I KNOW many of these
guests. I know their needs, their
preferences, their dietary restrictions…
They are a part of this community, and I don’t want to let them down. I don’t want them to repeatedly make the trek
to the LYFP (by bus, by foot, by car (using valuable gas), by bike, by
skateboard…) and find it empty.
Plus, we take the concept
of “Everybody deserves good food” seriously around here. We believe that if we wouldn’t eat it, we
shouldn’t serve it in the pantry either.
That’s why we are careful to sort
through donations. If an item is open or
expired, it does not go in the pantry.
We want guests to be treated with the respect all humans deserve, and
serving them food out of rusty, expired cans is not the way to do that.
But that sorting takes a lot of effort.
And opening the boxes of
donated food takes a lot of work.
As does hauling that heavy
food downstairs.
And noting expiration
dates on things.
And shelving it all.
And breaking down boxes
for recycling.
And decanting large
bottles of oil into smaller jars, and big bags of rice into meal size sealed packets.
And talking with guests
when they visit to see if they have a special need that we might be able to
meet.
It takes a lot of time,
effort, and love to keep the pantry going.
And while we are gone, it
also takes a lot of communication and trust.
And that’s when the PANTRY
CREW steps in to replace us!
We have a year-round, constant
Pantry Crew, neighbors who are both kind and trustworthy. Because, you see, they actually come into our
home when we are not here to work on the pantry. Never did I ever imagine living in a house
that neighbors came in and out of when I was not present, but here we are!
The constant crew was not
quite big enough to pick up the work for the summer, so we added some special
summer crew members, too! The summer crew
included:
· Teresa (and occasionally her husband Dan when donations
were too heavy to carry down to the shelves)
· Kasey and her kids Mackenzie and Ryder
· Christy
· Jacquie
· Ixi, Mac, and their kids Ixel and John
· Cindy and her granddaughter Daisy
This amazing group of
humans kept the pantry alive while we escaped to Florida. While we were swimming in the ocean, they
were sweating carrying down heavy boxes of veggies. While we were relaxing on the beach, they
were talking with guests and getting them what they needed. And while we were playing board games, they
were cutting up boxes and hauling them to the curb.
The pantry simply could
NOT exist without volunteers, and we are super grateful for these people!!
Joining the crew showed summer
members firsthand how hard it is to manage a project of this scale. It also allowed them to meet some guests and
see firsthand who the food supports. It
taught the new child member responsibility (and she even brought her dad over
one afternoon so she could teach HIM how it all works). And it reinforced community, compassion, and empathy
for all.
We hosted a Thank You
Party for the Summer Crew and had a great time eating, laughing, and
chatting. We talked about our favorite
things to put in the pantry: Ixel – pads and tampons, Kasey – whole meals like
pasta, spaghetti, and parmesan cheese, Daisy – honey, Susan – summer sausage,
Ixi – Hormel Compleats meals…
We talked about how fun it
is to meet guests, and how it is much more WORK than it appears from the outside.
And we laughed about our
ongoing joke – A CAN OF CARROTS.
Usually when I talk with people
about the pantry, they ask what things are popular with guests. But it is rare for someone to ask, “What doesn’t
get taken??”. But when you work on the crew,
you learn pretty quickly what the least favorite items are, and one of those is
for sure cans of carrots.
We joke that we can put a
can of carrots in and it will still be there 3 days later. The shelves may have emptied and been
refilled time and time again, but the CAN OF CARROTS remains!! Canned carrots just don’t go over that well. To celebrate this fun fact, each Summer
Pantry Crew member received a colorful shirt with the Kindness Activist logo on
the front, and the phrase, “I survived the Summer Pantry Crew… And so did a can of carrots.” The shirts were a big hit! (And I later learned that a young Summer
Pantry Crew member even experimented with the positioning of the canned carrots
on the shelves to see if that made a difference! Apparently, it did not…)
 |
| Ixi and Kasey modeling their new shirts |
The other item that sometimes stays in the pantry for a long time is boxed stuffing/dressing. To make stuffing, you need to have an oven (and to make it tasty, you need other ingredients). Also, I think not all cultures have stuffing as a “thing”, so it is just not a big hit in the pantry.
Of course, being on pantry
duty also shows you what the most popular items are! Some of those are: drinks of any kind, fruit cups, cans of
fruit, cans of hearty soup, Compleats meals, microwave popcorn, ramen, Maseca, pasta,
and pasta sauce. Oh, and toiletries of
any kind!! Pantry guests cannot use SNAP
benefits to buy toiletries, so shampoo, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, toothpaste,
lotion, shaving cream… We hand out a lot
of toiletries.
 |
| What's YOUR favorite thing to put in the pantry? Some of the Summer Crew! |
The Summer Pantry crew was
a great reminder for me of how it really does take a village. Without their support, we would not be able
to get away to recharge. I am so
grateful for their hard work and commitment.
 |
| Summer Pantry Crew (missing Christy, plus Susan and David) |
The Pantry Crew is full at
the moment, but we do often need volunteers for other things. If you would like to add your name to our
volunteer list, please send you name, email address, and cell phone number
to: kindnessactivist@gmail.com . We will add you to our database. Also, we often ask for volunteers on our
Facebook page (Kindness Activist), so give us a follow there.
If you would like to donate
to the Little Yellow Free Pantry, the most needed items as of September 22,
2026 are:
· Bars of soap (we are almost out)
· Single serving cups of instant mashed potatoes
· Bags/boxes of instant mashed potatoes
· Heat and eat Indian meals (we are out)
· Microwave popcorn (we are low)
· Canned fruit of any kind (always needed, hard to keep
in stock)
· Ketchup and/or mustard
· Cans of corn
· Evaporated milk
You can see our Amazon
wishlist here (please focus on items marked “most needed” – we try to keep that
up to date):
And, as always, if you
would like to donate to Kindness Activist to help keep our mission of spreading
kindness going, we would appreciate it. Donations
are tax deductible. Donations accepted via:
Venmo (KindnessActivist)
PayPal (KindnessActivist)
Credit Card:
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