This week’s Back Roads is the work of The Land Correspondent Tim King. Photos by Jan King. Pantries feed the soul, too

Several weeks ago I checked on a fellow I know who is down on his luck. He’s left his family to find work so he can send them money. He’s living in a run-down apartment by himself. And, to my surprise, he had no food.

I made a few calls and found out that County Social Services has a service which provides a one time, no questions asked, box of food. I also found out the local food shelf will open on very short notice in the case of an emergency. So, my friend ended the day with food.

Food shelves throughout Minnesota received 5,505,100 visits last year from people just like my friend. That number grows every year.

But food shelves aren’t the only solution to hunger. One creative solution to a crisis like my friend had is the Little Free Pantry movement which was started in Arkansas in 2014. There’s a map at the Little Free Pantry website which shows 50 or so of them from Maine to Oregon.

But that map is incomplete. It only shows one in Minnesota; in St. Paul.

In 2020 there were at least three others in Minnesota’s Morrison County; one each in Little Falls, Sobieski, and Swanville. We could not find the Little

Free Pantry in Sobieski on a recent trip; but the Swanville pantry was lightly stocked with canned goods and bottled water.

The pantry is a nicely-constructed weather proof cabinet mounted on an outside wall of Bob and Fran’s Grocery, at 309 DeGraff Ave. in Swanville.

“If you want to buy groceries in the store and put them out there you can,” Stacey, a store employee, said. “We also have an envelope in the store where you can put donations.”

Swanville’s Little Free Pantry has been in place since 2020. The inspiration for it was the 2019 installation of a Little Free Pantry located in a residential neighborhood at the Cole residence at 710 First St. SE in Little Falls.

The Cole’s named the pantry they host “Grandma Cole’s” Pantry, in honor of Elna Cole’s unflagging generosity. There is a poster on the pantry door picturing Grandma Cole and recounting her story. On the day we visited it was stocked with taco shells. A few days later, soup, syrup and mashed potato mix had replaced

Morrison County

the taco shells. “Take what you need. Give what you can,” was an ethic Elna Cole believed in and it’s the motto of Little Free Pantries around the country. Find out more at www.thelittlefreepantries.org v

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