After two years at First Presbyterian Church in Batavia, the Little Free Pantry is on the move, with fingers crossed that volunteers have found a new location for their full-sized refrigerator and a shelf-stable pantry will be opening downtown this week, Jenn Noon says.
Due to circumstances beyond their control, the pantry will likely close by Wednesday, she said.
“Over the years, we’ve had to relocate several times for situations that we’re out of our control, like Birchwood Village, they went to a new property owner, and situations like this. But thanks to the support from our community, these challenges and things overall turn into just small hurdles, and our overall story,” Noon said during an interview with The Batavian. “I do have exciting news: we have an appointment on Monday to go and visit a potential new location for the fridge, so we’re hoping that that’ll be a good fit, and we’ll have an update on that next week.”
As for a second site for nonperishable goods, tea and coffee, she is working with a business owner at Batavia City Centre and “they’re totally on board” with allowing a portion of the store's front entrance to be used for the pantry, Noon said. She didn’t want to disclose the name until details have been finalized but believes it’s a great fit for that location where people congregate while waiting for a bus or getting dropped off.
“So we’re hoping to get that set up this week as well, and be able to share that soon too,” she said.
The pantry at First Presbyterian Church, on the corner of East Main and Liberty streets, has been outside. There have been some issues with people not being courteous when taking items from the site, Noon said.
“So, unfortunately, we do face challenges, things like unkind visitors that make a mess out front. It's something that little free pantries all across the U.S., unfortunately, experience issues with. We've had an issue, for example, of kids opening a bag of black beans and tossing them at their friend, because we do operate on such a low barrier method. Unfortunately, there are folks that might be in a crisis situation, or, like I said, kids and things like that. So unfortunately, there’s challenges, but we're always working on addressing those challenges and addressing the needs of the community,” she said. “Basically, the model that us and all the other little free pantries and community fridges, one of the big things that they try to reduce is what they call policing of the pantries. And it just basically means that, again, trying to reduce those barriers, a lot of folks are, there's some shame in reaching out for help. Or, you know, we have a lot of kids that stop by after school and things like that.
“We do monitor at certain points, like when we have our popups, or we do our routine down there several times a day cleaning up,” she said. “Some locations we've been able to install a camera, so we're able to monitor things a little bit more easily, remotely. That really just depends on the host of that specific location and working together with them on what works best for that spot.”
Noon and the Rev. Roula Alkhouri of First Presbyterian each said they plan to continue a partnership to work on future projects.
“We are very supportive of their efforts and mission. Their mission aligns with our commitment to serve and love our neighbors. In the last month, we have helped them purchase a new refrigerator for storing extra produce. We will continue to support them and provide hands-on assistance going forward in any way that we can, including their popup and annual events,” Alkhouri said. “While they will be missed at our church location, our care and love will continue for their work of providing food for those who need it. We believe that God works in mysterious ways, and that even in times of transition, new opportunities for service and partnership will emerge.
“We will continue to seek ways to support the Little Free Pantry and other initiatives that address food insecurity in our community,” she said. “We extend our deepest gratitude to the dedicated volunteers and supporters of the Little Free Pantry. May God bless them as they embark on this new chapter.”
The two organizations will be working together on initiatives including a maternal health and wellness effort, and “big, huge events around Christmas,” Noon said.
“It’s just the outdoor pantry wasn’t the best model for that location,” she said. “Every spot’s not a good match. We still have our location at 28 Seneca. It is open 24/7, it was our old farm stand location that we had up just during the summer. But last year at Thanksgiving we actually found a really nice structure that we were able to put up there and get that up and going.”
There are bakery items, shelf-stable goods, bicycle helmets, and warm clothing, and in the summertime, there will be produced from Ryan’s Rose Organic Farm, which has generously partnered with the pantry since the first year it opened, Noon said. The farm owner, Tom Ryan, is helping out with the pantry’s maternal health and wellness program — “he jumped right on board and is totally willing to support us, so we’re really grateful for him.”
Noon is also assisting some folks in Erie and Orleans counties wanting to open some little pantries there, she said. She has four core volunteers and partners of grocery stores, bakeries and restaurants for food donations. Some 90% of the food received would have been thrown out, she said.
“So that’s a big part of our mission, is trying to reduce food waste,” she said. “There’s a lot of perfectly good food that completely would get discarded. Otherwise, we do try to source that and bring it back to our community.”
Anyone interested in volunteering may go HERE and join the volunteer page to learn of ways to help. If you have a potential host site for a pantry, send a message through the website.
