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Little Free Pantry feeds bellies and souls

<p>Cheryl Franzese, Molly duPont Schaffer, Karla Rettstatt. </p>

Molly duPont Schaffer has never wanted a box to be empty as badly as she does with the Little Free Pantry.

“Yes it’s been awesome,” she said standing next to the box she affectionately calls “her baby”. “I knew it had the potential to be good but I didn’t know it would be this good.”

On March 1, Schaffer and a few friends from Church of the Ascension in downtown Clearwater planted what they hope becomes an area-wide movement: their Little Free Pantry.

“The motto is ‘Leave what you can and take what you need,” said Schaffer.

The concept is simple. Volunteers, one for each day of the month, buy non-perishable and easy-to-eat foods and stock the large box on a post that sits in the church parking lot. Anyone who needs food or is hungry for whatever reason, may come and take that food for free.

It’s their way to giving back to the community.

“It’s very rewarding,” said Cheryl Franzese. “I like the anonymous nature of it.”

“It’s just a really wonderful to give to people you don’t know,” added Karla Rettstatt as she loaded the box full of crackers and canned goods. “We’re giving from the heart.”

The box has been fully stocked each morning for two months now with volunteers picking up daily shopping shifts. Many mornings those responsible for filling the Little Free Pantry find that it was emptied out throughout the course of the previous day.

Exactly what Schaffer wants to see.

“Lives are touched on both sides,” she said. “The volunteers are getting as much out of it as the people who are needing the food.”

The local Little Free Pantry is located in the parking lot of the Church of the Ascension at 701 Orange Avenue, Clearwater, FL 33756.

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