Everyone at some point in their life has had one of those days, weeks or months where leftover pizza lasted longer than it should have or ramen became its own food group – paying for rent or books became more important than a grumbling stomach.
Now, there is a Little Food Pantry in Derby to help people going through a tough time.
“There’s always someone struggling no matter where you’re at,” said Jennifer Gaylord, owner and therapist at Sage Sisters Massage Therapy, 838 N. Baltimore Ave.
A few weeks ago, Gaylord filled a skinny, black cabinet with non-perishable food and hygiene items. The cabinet sits outside her business, available to anyone that wants to donate or take from it.
Gaylord remembers cutting corners as a single mom.
“I know sometimes stuff gets stretched really thin or you’re trying to throw together a meal and you’re like, ‘Oh God, if I just had noodles.’”
She has already received donations from the Derby Community Area Watch Facebook group.
Anything is welcome, she said, but maybe not the expired cranberry sauce.
“I wouldn’t suggest bringing the can of cranberry sauce that no one ever wants to eat that’s been sitting in your cabinet for years,” she said.
The top shelves have canned vegetables, fruit, and meat, noodles and rice. The middle drawer has toothbrushes, soap and toothpaste, and the bottom cabinet has shampoo, conditioner and other cleaning products.
Gaylord would like to add cleaning supplies and more hygiene items like toilet paper and paper towels.
She was inspired by the Little Free Library next door at Sirens and Sailors Salon and a video on Facebook of another woman who opened a pantry in her front yard.
She said too often people think that only big cities have needs.
In 2015, 42.2 million Americans lived in food-insecure households, meaning that they did not have access to nutritious food, according to a study from Feeding America.
Food insecurity exists everywhere in America. In 2014, 75,680 people in Sedgwick County were food insecure. Fourteen percent of households that are food insecure include someone who is a veteran or served in the military, according to the Kansas Food Bank.
People go to great measures to survive like eating food past the expiration date, purchasing unhealthy food or watering food down to make it last.
“Everybody needs a little help sometimes, and it doesn’t hurt at all to have the community help,” she said.
