SPOKANE, Wash. — Little food pantries have started to pop up all over Spokane to help people get a meal, especially as the holiday season starts to wrap up.
Finding a pantry was not an easy task for those in need of food until a Facebook group launched Little Free Pantry Spokane to connect people with pantries in their neighborhood.
One of the pantries that first started as a cardboard box with some extra fresh fruit and canned food that read, "Please take what you need," evolved into the "Blessing box" shelf that has provided food for people in need for the last two years.
“It’s been almost about two years now, and we actually didn’t start the pantry, our neighborhood did,” Mary Charbonneau from Blessing Box at Monroe and Montgomery said.
The pantry is located at Monroe and Montgomery in Spokane, and people can stop by and grab as much food as they need, such as fresh vegetables, canned food and loaf bread that some families bring to the shelf.
"I think the more awareness we can bring to food insecurity in our community and the more people that step out to help, the better everyone is going to be," Charbonneau said.
Another local pantry in the Spokane neighborhood is located at Napa and Marietta street, where people can stop by to take or drop off food. They can take as much as they need, and the food goes by very quickly.
Kristin Beals, who started the Napa and Marietta pantry, said the inspiration for creating the free pantry was the overflow of food that so many people have.
Beals also said she knows what it is like for people to be turned away when they need food.
"I know what it's like to be turned away when all you want is some food, and this was like a free option to no contract, no address, no nothing, just show up and take what you want," Beals said.
About 200 people come through the pantry per week, Beals said.
Dennis Swinger, a resident who drove from Lind, Washington, to Spokane on Wednesday to donate some food for the local pantries with his two children, said this is the time of year people need some help.
Winger said he reached out to his friend who told him about the little pantry after his two children needed service hours. After looking at the Facebook Little Pantry page, he decided to step out on the road and bring some food.
"There are people that aren't as fortunate as us, and to see that we can help them in any way possible is a very good feeling," Dennis' son Brandon Swinger said.
Visit the Little Free Pantry Spokane Facebook page for more information about finding the pantry's location.