The Neighbor Bridge Inc. and Bear Creek Outdoor Living celebrated the installation of the sixth Little Free Food Pantry in the Shenandoah Valley this afternoon.
A partnership with the Valley Community Services Board in Staunton was born after a client approached Prevention Specialist Sara Catterton one day and asked for a meal. All she could offer the young man was snacks from her desk. When she offered the snacks, he insisted he needed a meal.
“I think it’s going to greatly serve our clients,” Catterton said.
According to Catterton, VCSB clients will benefit from the LFFP during intakes which can last five to six hours.
“People can wait awhile to be seen,” she said. And that is probably what the young man who approached her was doing that day.
The Neighbor Bridge, founded and operated by Chaz and Trisha Fillion, had already collected 518 pounds of donated food from the new pantry which was available one month ago for clients and community members.
“Keep doing what you’re doing,” Trisha Fillion told VCSB staff Tuesday afternoon. “You’re making a difference. Thank you so much.”
Catterton said the new LFFP would not have been possible without the Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion (JEDI) Committee, volunteers who perform projects about social justice, equity and diversity.
The pantry at Valley Community Services Board, 85 Sangers Ln., Staunton, does not have books, just food.
The seventh and last Little Free Food Pantry is planned for Staunton Public Library. Other pantries are at Habitat For Humanity ReStore on Greenville Avenue in Staunton, Waynesboro Public Library, Gospel Light Baptist Church in Waynesboro and Augusta County Library in Fishersville.
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Rebecca Barnabi
