SHERWOOD, Ark. — The Little Free Pantry of Sherwood is in desperate need of extra donations. Volunteers said they have seen an increase in the need for groceries, especially after last month’s government shutdown.
“Due to the recent government shutdown, February food assistance benefits were paid out early,” said Candy Guidry, a volunteer.
“Although they were told to budget, the vast majority of people who receive food assistance don’t get enough to really budget,” said Guidry. “There’s not a lot there to budget to begin with.”
Guidry said, now those families are starting to run out of groceries and depend on these free pantries for their daily meals.
“Our pantries are going empty as fast as we can fill them, that’s proof that the need is out there,” said Guidry.
Guidry is one of the many volunteers that help stock the community pantries.
“I volunteer at a local distribution pantry and in turn, they contribute to the little free pantries and each week I make a round visiting each pantry and delivering items that were donated by the brick and mortar pantry,” said Guidry.
Even then, Guidry said those community pantries are now in need of donations more than ever. She said that usually, food that is dropped off won’t last more than 24 hours.
She said there are several ways to donate. You can drop off non-perishable food items at any of the locations or contact the group on Facebook.
“We can make arrangement to pick up any donations from them and we will take care of dividing them and distributing to the pantries,” said Guidry.
Guidry also said you can also make contributions online.
“We have an Amazon wishlist and a Walmart wishlist, and we accept PayPal donations,” said Guidry. “Three easy ways you can donate and help your neighbors.”
The Little Free Pantry of Sherwood started as a small project between a mother and her daughter, since then it has grown into a community-wide effort.
“The community was really taken by it and got involved, next thing you know, we have other people wanting to build pantries and put more up, and right now, we have eight locations,” said Guidry.
