CHURCH BRINGING BACK FREE PANTRY
Saturday morning event launches new effor`t
Last October, Trinity United Methodist Church in downtown Loveland made the difficult decision of temporarily ceasing operations for the Little Free Pantry, the free food box started by resident Sharon Shuster Anhorn in 2020. At the time, church members felt they had no option due to an escalation of issues, from trash being left around the church to vandalism.
But now, six months later, the church will be rolling pantry operations back out, though not without some substantial changes to how it operates.
Starting Saturday, the church will begin distributing the food from its pantry from 10 a.m. to noon every second and fourth Saturday of every month with volunteers there to help get people what they need.
Wendy Yates, mission leader at the church, said that following the ceasing of the operation the church had to donate more than 350 pounds of food to other local service agencies, lest it go bad just sitting while the church figured out what to do.
But this didn’t mean the giving stopped for the church. The Rev. Bryson Lillie said while the pantry outside sits empty and chained up, it never really closed, still helping residents out to get food when they needed it. He said the church spent the months following the temporary stoppage to figure out a new system, trying out the current distribution model in December.
“Our cabinet here was locked, yes, but we were still giving out food,” he said.
That chain in particular weighed heavy on the hearts of those involved, with Lillie describing it as a “powerful, blunt symbol.”
“It is not a good heart feeling,” Yates said of having to walk by it every day.
But the church has since decided the new distribution model will work well to open the pantry program back up officially, restocking their supplies with donations from Thompson Valley High School as it has in years past.
For now, the church members and volunteers in charge of the pantry are still working out the best system to get the donated food out to those in need.
While the physical pantry remains empty and locked, they are hoping to find ways to get food back into it so people can still get it if they can’t make it on a distribution Saturday.
One possible idea the group had, Yates said, is implementing a number code lock on the door, so if someone is in need of some food but can’t make it on a Saturday they are operating, they could call, get the combination and get what they need; Lillie described this as a “pantry on demand” sort of model.
But for both Yates and Lillie, the fact the church can keep this program going means a lot.
“We are glad that we are moving toward being able to utilize it again and … have it kind of be a sign of hope for people in the community,” Lillie said. “Because right now that chain doesn’t communicate much hope.”
Yates said it is a perfect time symbolically to start the pantry back up, as spring brings in new life.
“My feeling … is we are going to continue to feed people in our community,” she said. “And we are happy to do that. And we are hopefully going to find a way that will work for everyone.”
The first pantry distribution of the new system will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the church, 801 N. Cleveland Ave. More information on the church and updates to the pantry’s schedule can be found on the Friends of the Pantry Facebook page.