CINCINNATI, Ohio—More people than ever are struggling to feed their families right now. But thanks to an eight-year-old’s idea, some of her neighbors don’t have to worry where their next meal is coming from.
What You Need To Know
- Little Free Pantries are free for anyone to use in the community and easy to donate to
- Eight-year-old Lina Smyth came up with the idea to build one outside of her house during quarantine
- Lina and her sisters help stock the pantry a few times a week
- For more information on where the closest Little Free Pantry is to you, visit littlefreepantry.org
You may have heard of little free libraries, but now little free pantries are popping up all across the Cincinnati area for those in need.
But this little free pantry was actually the idea of eight year old Lina Smyth. She says after reading a book from the library, a hands on activity helped her come up with the little free pantry.
“The hands on thing was help fight hunger,” Lina said. “So that was my idea.”
Her dad Daniel says his oldest of four girls actually didn’t surprise him because they talk about what’s going on in the community.
“It think it’s huge to be talking about it because our kids are feeling it whether or not we’re talking about it,” Daniel said. “And so as we kind of get to engage them and help them process their own feelings, we know that other people are feeling the same stuff. And our goal for our kids is to raise them to be mature adults who know how to handle their own feelings, how to interact with other people, how to help their neighbors when they get to be adults.”
It’s really simple to use. Anyone can take whatever they need out of the pantry or leave anything to donate.
“If you have something extra, you can drop it off,” Daniel said. “If you need something, you can come pick it up. People don’t need permission, they don’t need to sign up to receive something.”
Daniel says it’s been difficult to keep stocked because of how many people have been utilizing the free pantry since they built it this spring.
“It’s honestly hard to keep it full,” he said. “Things are just constantly in and out. And it’s really great that our neighbors kind of jumped in to participate with it too.”
The girls make sure to keep it stocked a couple of times a week. Daniel says the area they live in typically sees more need and it’s important to continue to help neighbors.
“Price Hill is not always the easiest place to live,” Daniel said. “And there are lots of people here around us that need help. And so it’s something we talk about on a regular basis and something we’re always looking for, a way to interact and help our neighbors.”
“I’ve seen a lot of homeless people along the road,” Lina said. “And I think they’re just wandering around and they see that and they take some food out.”
For more information on the closest Little Free Pantry to you and how to donate visit littlefreepantry.org.
