NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – More than ever, The Little Pantry That Could is living up to its name as it keeps chugging along.
The food pantry was originally located in a West Nashville church, but after six years had to move when the church was sold.
They found a temporary home in North Nashville, but had to leave that spot three months ago, closing its doors for the first time.
Now there are plans to re-open the pantry this weekend.
“Being closed has been devastating,” the pantry’s executive director Stacy Downey told News 2.
When the pantry first started in 2010, Nashville was very different.
(Photo: WKRN)
“We started as a really little pantry with maybe 10 people a week and now it’s grown to maybe 200 families each week,” Downey explained.
Hundreds of families in need that have not had access to food from the pantry for months.
“It has been horrible for the people that we serve. The last day we were open, we had 222 families come to us, so multiple that by three months all those people are in need,” Downey said.
“Every day since we’ve been closed, people come up and say, ‘Are you open? I can’t feed my kids. Are you open? We don’t have anything, can you help?’ It has been kind of soul wrenching to be closed these three months.”
The day to help again is almost here. The pantry is now leasing what once was a day care in North Nashville. The space is about seven times bigger than its original location, allowing Downey to expand their food pantry and outreach services.
“Our outreach services here will expand, too. We will have laundry, we will have showers, we will have outreach workers who will work here every day we work on jobs and rehab referrals,” she said.
Downey said they truly are a little pantry with a big heart.
(Photo: WKRN)
“The thing about The Little Pantry is you don’t have to live in a certain zip code, we don’t gather demographics and people come to us from all over. They come from Dickson and Goodlettsville, we have people from Antioch. There are people who will ride the bus for hours to get here.”
While there is still a lot of work to do, they plan to open the food pantry on Saturday, though it will still be a couple of weeks before the outreach services open.
The Little Pantry That Could is recognized as a non-profit organization, so donations are tax deductible.
They always need volunteers and could use donors to help with their operation for more information visit their website.
