Found out my neighbor's been running a food pantry out of her garage for 8 years - blew my mind

I was over at my neighbor Sarah's house last week to borrow a ladder and I saw a whole shelf of canned goods and boxes of pasta in her garage. I asked if she was prepping for something and she laughed and told me she's been running a little food pantry out of her garage since 2016. She said she gets like 15-20 people a week coming by. I had no idea. She showed me a spreadsheet she keeps of what people ask for most and it's stuff like rice, beans, and diapers. Made me realize how much need there is right under my nose. Has anyone else found out something like this about someone you see every day?

2 comments

2 Comments

alex_king12d ago

And here I thought my neighborhood was pretty transparent but we've got a whole hidden pantry operation running right next door. Sarah's got a spreadsheet of what people actually need. That's more thought than most of our city council puts into things like this.

betty_white3912d agoMost Upvoted

Well shoot, your neighbor's got the right idea. I've seen setups like this fall apart because nobody tracks what's actually going out. A simple notebook or spreadsheet like Sarah's makes a world of difference. You should grab a few cans of beans and maybe some toilet paper to drop off, those are always the first to go. Tell her to keep an eye on the perishables, I learned that one the hard way after a box of avocados went bad in a day. If she's got a system, she's already ahead of most.