“He saw cabinets out at the end of people’s driveways and saw a couple of them had signage on them,” she said. “He told me about them and he said, ‘We gotta do something about this.'”
The family got to work quickly on converting a book shelf into a food pantry (with a door and a slanted roof) that it put at the end of its driveway on Syndicate Street. On it are signs that encourage anyone who approaches to take what donations they need or leave what they can. Haakenson’s family keeps it stocked with food and personal items.
“It’s been really cool,” said Haakenson. “We go out there every day, and there’s new stuff in there.”
She said others have responded on social media by wanting to know where it’s located and how they can build their own pantries.
“It makes me feel good about humanity,” she said. “We weren’t really sure how it would go, but support’s been pretty overwhelmingly good.”
