Little Red Pantry coming to Marine City - New Baltimore Voice Newspapers

Marine City families in need will soon have another place to turn for extra support to avoid hunger.

Little Red Pantries have been popping up in locations throughout St. Clair County for over a year, offering food and other household goods to area residents in need.

The next installation is planned for Marine City.

With the inscription “Take what you need, leave what you can,” Little Red Pantries copy a model that originated with the sharing of books in Little Free Libraries, but rather than providing reading material, they offer groceries and other household needs.

Like Little Free Libraries, the pantries are a solution to the limited hours of other community organizations that provide a similar service. Instead of requiring availability during set distribution hours, as is the case for most food banks, the pantries are available at any time.

Little Red Pantries of St. Clair County is a project of Woman’s Life 803, based in St. Clair. Members build the pantries, install them at host businesses or organizations and help keep them stocked with canned goods, snack foods and other non-perishable foods.

Woman’s Life 803 President Lisa Seelmann was inspired to bring the Little Red Pantry project to St. Clair County after reading about a woman in another state who installed a pantry in front of her house.

“I brought that idea to my Woman’s Life group and asked them if they would be interested,” Seelmann said. “And they said, ‘Absolutely.’”

A volunteer service grant from Women’s Life provided the materials for the pantries. Seelmann’s husband, a carpenter, was able to replicate the design of the pantry she had seen online.

The Marine City Little Red Pantry will be the seventh box installed by members of Women’s Life 803. Three of the pantries are located in Port Huron, including the most recent addition in front of Kate’s Downtown on Huron Avenue. Additional pantry locations include St. Clair and Kimball Township.

“Marine City was one I wanted to do in our original group because I know there are parts of that area in need,” Seelmann said. “I had a hard time finding anybody that would let us put a pantry there, so I let it go.”

The installation of the pantry at Kate’s Downtown generated buzz on social media, which prompted renewed interest in bringing a Little Red Pantry to Marine City.

The group is considering two potential locations for the pantry. Corner Grocery owner Jackie Owens and the Marine City office of St. Clair County Community Mental Health have offered to host the box.

Seelman expects plans to be finalized and the box to be installed in April.

For more information about Little Red Pantries of St. Clair County, go to facebook.com/littleredpantries.

Colleen Kowalewski is a staff writer for The Voice. She can be contacted at 586-273-6197 or ckowalewski@21st-centurymedia.com.