Ridgecrest resident creates Little Free Pantry

By Andrea Petrusky

Hi neighbors! We are trying to spread to word to our neighbors about our new Little Free Pantry in Ridgecrest, located at 15815 11th Ave NE.

The Little Free Pantry is the same idea as a Little Free Library, only it offers free food.

The first Little Free Pantry was invented earlier this year by Jessica McClard of Arkansas.

Her website states, “Whether a need for food or a need to give, the Little Free Pantry facilitates neighbors helping neighbors, building community.” You may read more about the pilot project on her website.

After reading an article about Jessica’s pantry, I emailed it to my hubby and told him I wanted one in front of our house. Se he made me one!

We installed it in September and our community has been very generous with donations. I have people stopping by daily to leave what they can, or take what they need. It is wonderful!

Shoreline is a very giving and supportive community, and this is another way for us to help our neighbors in need and build a sense of community.

I had little cards printed up with the location of our pantry to hand out, and my 5 year old son and I are working on spreading the word to local school family advocates, senior centers, tent cities, homeless, etc. You may view our Facebook page here.

Little Free Pantries are popping up all over the place now! There is one in Ballard, one in North Seattle, one in Kirkland, and we’re hoping to get more in Shoreline!

Adam Petrusky built the
Little Free Pantry

If you are interested in building one for yourself, there are loads of ideas for building Little Free Libraries online.

We found a free upper kitchen cabinet on Craigslist and my hubby (Adam) built doors with Plexiglas so you can see what’s inside. He also built a sloped roof with an overhang to protect it from the weather.

Jessica’s original cabinet design isn’t available, but the dimensions of her single door cabinet are 2 1/2 ft long x 2 ft wide x 12 inches deep. You could use almost anything that will protect the food from the weather. I even read on Jessica’s Facebook page that someone contacted their local newspaper and requested an old newspaper vending machine and received one free of charge.

We are hoping that this idea catches on, and I’ve already received messages from three local people who are interested in making one too!

Thanks again for your support. Please help us spread the word about the location of our pantry, and feel free to stop by any time and take what you need or leave what you can.