BUILDING A NEIGHBORHOOD PANTRY

APRIL 15, 2020

Jarred and Bethany share about creating a simple way to care for their neighbors with proper social distancing standards, transforming an old forgotten cabinet into a neighborhood pantry. 

What’s the point of staining decks, planting gardens, figuring out a new way to cook rice or staying connected with virtual happy hours if our neighbors are hungry?

In asking that question we arrived at the solution of a neighborhood pantry. With the help of some spray cleaner and a little bit of elbow grease, the old metal pantry that was once forgotten in our basement was transformed. A bit of life breathed into old scrap metal. Some might think it an eyesore, but we view it as our most beautiful lawn décor, a light house of sorts to those in need.

And just like that, it began.

Now when those of us in the neighborhood leave our homes to go grocery shopping, we all pick up a few extra things for the pantry. Simple non-perishables, a little soap, the toilet paper Jane thought to hoard a few weeks ago.  Anyone can give, anyone can take, and on Sunday all the extra supplies find their way to the Good Neighbor Network hub at Church In Bethesda.

Each week, those of us in the neighborhood have an opportunity to give and care for one another through the community pantry. Each week is new, but still familiar. As the pantry grows, we continue to cook, clean, wave, plant and feed one another. 

Viruses have existed for millennia before apes roamed the earth, and just like our cousins we walk among them, a little higher than apes, a little lower than our purpose.