Little Free Pantries FAQs

Little Free Pantries are an easy way for neighbors to help neighbors who need food, hygiene or paper items. They are a 24/7, zero barrier access point to food. Little Free Pantries not only support neighbors who are facing food insecurity but also build micro-communities. They empower people to make immediate change toward their neighborhood. By way of neighbors helping neighbors and the stocking of a Little Free Pantry, micro-communities form around this pillar and in turn connect neighbors who otherwise would not have met.

Give what you can by placing food, hygiene, or paper items inside the pantry. Your neighbors who need those items can freely take from the pantry, no questions asked. If you see items inside and you them, take them and know your community cares for you.

As a pantry host, you are committed to regularly stocking your LFP, keeping the pantry and the area around it clean, and asking your neighbors to support the effort too. For a pantry to become a reliable location for food, it needs to stay stocked and seen as an integral part of a neighborhood's supportive network. Pantries create community through neighbor engagement. Encourage and ask for regular donations from neighbors - post on social media, neighborhood text groups, nearby houses of faiths. The pantry model relies on neighbors to give and receive from it. Share the message of pantries - neighbors helping neighbors.

CALL 811 before you dig. This will ensure that gas lines aren’t punctured when digging and will keep you and your neighbors safe.

As a pantry host, you are the adoptive caregiver of this pantry and hold complete responsibility to it. By becoming a pantry host and taking a pantry, you are agreeing and are responsible for painting, securing, and installing the pantry.

It’s essential you speak with your neighbors before installing a pantry. Explain the concept and address any concerns anyone might have. It's important your neighborhood is supportive and actively participating in keeping it stocked with foods and personal hygiene products. The cost to keep a pantry stocked is manageable when it is a collective effort. Find a flyer here to share with your community. Share it via social media, email, print and post in public spaces.

We believe food resources should be available to all regardless of need. Little Free Pantries are a mode to deliver food through mutual aid, allowing us to function as neighbors in solidarity rather than charity, ensuring the organizing effort is mutually beneficial and all people are cared for. LFPs are a zero-barrier access point to food, allowing for non-judgemental, anonymous access to food. A person can take one item or an entire bag of food. It’s not the role of a pantry host to police the amount of food a person can take but rather to care for the pantry, establishing community engagement to ensure the pantry stays stocked and is a reliable access point to food.

Pantry locations also become known as reliable sources of food for neighbors through word of mouth, people walking by, and neighbors telling neighbors. It’s important as a pantry host that your outreach efforts are expansive - share on social media, spread flyers around your community, and reach out to your neighborhood food bank to share its location.

It is the responsibility of the host to paint and seal with exterior paint. This offers a chance to express a message, community culture, and artistic creativity. Consider involving your neighbors in the painting and decorating of the pantry.

Buy and encourage others to buy duplicates of whatever products you use. If you eator use it, so will someone else. If you experience sticker shock when browsing an item, it should go inside! Diapers, feminine hygiene products, and canned protein are examples of items that are expensive and important. Consider and think of your neighbors and what foods may be meaningful to them based on their backgrounds and culture. Culturally relevant and desired foods are difficult to find at food banks and are important to the nourishment of a person's soul and body.

Little Free Pantries work best in walkable neighborhoods and areas with a lot of foot traffic. For a Little Free Pantry to be successful, it is essential that the surrounding community rallies around it to keep it regularly stocked with non-perishable food items and personal hygiene products. Consider these factors:

• A location that is noticeable
• A location with lighting (street light, other exterior lighting)
• A location clear of easements and the apron of grass between the sidewalk and the street
• A location with a North or East-facing orientation if your summers are hot

If you have the appropriate permissions, avoid sitting in an easement, and keep your mini pantry in good condition, you are not likely to have issues. You may choose to purchase personal or commercial liability insurance; however, most mini pantry hosts do not. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42 USCA § 1791), in most situations, protects from civil and criminal liability those who donate food products to a nonprofit organization for distribution to needy individuals. Establishing or donating to an affiliated Little Free Pantry project is not a guarantee of protection from liability under this law. If you have specific questions about liability or any applicable regulations to a Little Free Pantry in your area, you should consult an attorney.

A pantry is for everyone and anyone who walks, rolls, scoots or drives by. Regardless of skin color, housing or employment status, wealth, physical or mental health, this project is aiming to show that food is a basic right and, in community, we can share the abundance with those who might be experiencing food insecurity. In late June 2020, 27.5% of households with children were food insecure — meaning some 13.9 million children lived in a household characterized by child food insecurity. Food insecurity has more than tripled among households with children to 29.5% (Source: The Brookings Institute)

It’s likely that once installed and noticed in a neighborhood, a pantry might be visited by someone who is unhoused, or it might not! The purpose of a pantry is to offer 24/7 access to non-perishable, packaged, food and drinks. It is designed to be a space free of judgement, stigma or criticism of a person’s situation or health. The pantry model of giving to and receiving from works well because many of us have enough, or more than enough and despite where we live, there are those who don’t have enough. Through this feedback loop of giving and receiving we become stronger and more resilient. Additionally, we believe this happening on a local level makes communities safer and healthier places to live.

There are varying degrees of food insecurity and there’s a complex relationship between food insecurity and socioeconomic factors. A person who may be experiencing food insecurity is very likely housed. A pantry may be used weekly by a neighbor or just the week when rent is due because finances don’t stretch far enough. As a result of COVID, the number of Washingtonians who cannot put food on their tables has more than doubled. From 850,000 Washingtonians to 1.6 million (The Seattle Times). When food insecurity rates go up, it means that people are stretching their dollars to the very limit and are on the brink of economic crisis.

If someone comes along and needs everything in a pantry we just restocked, we feel humbled and glad that the pantry model is working. It’s possible that next week, after the same person got their paycheck, they might return to the same pantry they took from, and contribute a few items. This is an example of what we mean when we say "take what you need, give what you can." When there are multiple neighbors looking after a pantry, it shouldn’t stay empty long. When it does sit empty, it also sits with an invitation for someone passing to consider what they might have to give that they can do without.

We do not support any kind of policing about who, how many, or when items are taken from the pantry. The concept is strong because it is a low-barrier, 24/7 access point for food free of judgement.

In a recent survey TLFP took of their pantry community, 80% said they were more connected to their neighbors because of the pantry they hosted. 31% of hosts experienced finding their pantry stocked by a neighbor more than 4 times per week, while the other 69% experienced their pantry stocked 1 to 3 times per week by a neighbor. People are looking for ways to help during this challenging time and placing a few additional cans of food in their shopping cart and stocking a pantry is an easy way to positively impact the life of another person in the community.