The mini pantry movement is a grassroots, crowdsourced solution to immediate and local need. Whether that be a need for food or a need to give, mini pantries help neighbors feed neighbors, nourishing neighborhoods.
Jessica McClard launched the grassroots mini pantry movement in May of 2016 in Fayetteville, AR, when she planted the Little Free Pantry Pilot, a wooden box on a post containing food, personal care, and paper items accessible to everyone all the time no questions asked. She hoped her spin on the Little Free Library® concept would pique local awareness of food insecurity while creating a space for neighbors to help meet neighborhood food needs.
Doc4 built on this initial concept, developing a user friendly, custom, mobile responsive site with donations from Tyson Foods. "Tyson Foods presented Jessica McClard, founder and operator of the Little Free Pantry in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with $40,000 to implement a web-based mapping solution to make it more convenient for those in need to find a pantry close to them and create awareness of locations for those volunteering to stock the pantry. Tyson also pledged $10,000 of shelf-stable product to help stock pantries in northwest Arkansas."
The website titled 'PantryGift' provided an easy method of accepting donations, locating pantries, and assisted in managing those locations.
PantryGift has been covered extensively throughout various media outlets.
World Hunger (worldhunger.org)
Hunger Fighter Interview Jessica McClard
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Tyson Foods (tysonfoods.com)
Hunger Heroes: Jessica McClard
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The Smile Project (the-smile-project.com)
Service Spotlight: Little Free Pantry
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Red Bull (redbull.com)
How one woman accidentally launched a global movement
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