Stellarton man starts free pantry
STELLARTON — “Free Take What You Need” was scrawled in white paint on plywood.
Under a blue tarp plastic storage drawers were set up on a picnic table. The drawers stuffed with food and hygiene products. The whole seen seemed to convey the message, "no judgment."
So began Dustin Madden's free pantry in Stellarton. Thanks to the community support, the pantry has grown. He now has a shed to hold the products and even a new sign that was donated.
Madden, 30, says he started this makeshift pantry at 11 Acadia Ave. as a way to help people.
“I’ve heard around lately that people are struggling particularly due to COVID,” he said. “COVID cheques just ran out for a lot of people. A lot of families are struggling. I took the last $300 I had in my pocket and decided to set up a little booth and it just kind of went crazy.”
The first day he set it up, almost all the food disappeared.
He put out a request for donations on Facebook and almost instantly people began dropping off donations and money to keep it going. Some people take one thing and leave another. It’s exactly what he hoped would happen.
For Madden, it’s a very personal project because he knows a thing or two about what it’s like to live in poverty.
“I grew up in Children’s Aid. I grew up bouncing around group home to group home, foster home to foster home – over 50 of them,” he said. “I know what it’s like to do without.”
But he’s never been the kind of person who could sit back and watch others suffer. Stray cats find food and shelter in his home, when a neighbour needs their driveway shovelled, he does it, and if he knows a friend’s child has a birthday coming up and money is limited, he takes it upon himself to buy them a present.
“I’m just not that kind of person to stand back and watch someone suffer,” he said.
Lee Cowan is a neighbour and friend of Madden’s and has been doing what she can to help him with this project.
“You can always count on him to do anything for you,” she said. “This is the epitome of Dustin.”
While on cold nights he takes the canned food in because it might freeze, Madden said he tries to leave items out as much as possible, even through the night, because he knows some people are too embarrassed to be seen accepting help during daylight.
He realizes there’s a risk that someone could clean out the whole thing, but that’s a chance he’s willing to take.
“I don’t care if someone comes and takes it as long as it gets some use,” he said.
He’s thankful for the support the community has shown and he hopes to continue as long as possible. If anyone would like to make a donation they can call him at 902-396-8634 or message him on Facebook.
He said hygiene products are going particularly fast, but they also are accepting non-perishables, school lunch items, hats and gloves as well as school supplies.
“Just things that people need,” he explained. “It makes life kind of suck when you go without.”
He believes that Pictou County working together can make sure no one ever does without.
“There’s like 45,000 people in Pictou County. If everybody donated a can a week or something, nobody would ever go hungry. There’s no need for it.”