Student's idea to help homeless becomes a reality in Laconia

LACONIA — A high school student’s community service project is working to help people who need food in Laconia.

A Little Free Food Pantry has just been installed in front of the Laconia Congregational Church Parish House on Veterans Square.

Anyone who needs a little extra help can take non-perishable food from the box, and anyone who wants to offer their help can put food in.

“We’re going to put a sign on the box that says, “Take what you need. Leave what you can,” said the Rev. Neil Wilson, the church’s pastor.

The church decided to host the little food pantry — sometimes called a blessing box — after receiving an email from Ashley Bennett, a 15-year-old sophomore at Plymouth Regional High School.

Bennett was thinking of what she could do for a community service project for her U.S. government class when she saw a little food pantry while on a visit to Littleton.

As she discussed the idea with her parents, the idea for the project took root.

“I always wanted to help people, especially the homeless,” said Bennett, who lives in Campton.

Her mother, Leah, suggested she send emails describing her idea to a number of churches in central New Hampshire. She emailed 15 churches. The Laconia Congregational Church was the one church which agreed to act as a location for the free mini food pantry.

Her grandfather, Bob Moulding, built the little cupboard to house the food pantry and her grandmother, Grace Barnes, helped collect food to stock the blessing box.

On Sunday, Bennett and Moulding delivered the little food pantry cupboard downtown, along with an assortment of canned goods, instant oatmeal, breakfast cereal and other non-perishable food.

Church Moderator John Walker helped Bennett finish stocking the cupboard with additional food stuffs which the church has been collecting for the outreach project.

Wilson said anyone can replenish the pantry by simply placing the donated goods inside. He said the church will check the cupboard periodically to see what people have dropped off, mainly to make sure that there isn’t anything that could freeze at this time of year.

Inspired by Little Free Libraries, Little Free Pantries – or mini pantries – began in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2016. Another box was built later that year at a church in Oklahoma before catching on around the country. Today there are hundreds of such pantries in the U.S., as well as five other countries, according to the website www.littlefreepantry.org, which helps to coordinate and publicize the movement.

The mini pantry in Laconia will be the fifth to be set up in the state. The others are in Hudson, Deering, Ashland, and Littleton, according to the website.

The mini pantries are not designed to replace food banks. Rather, the intent is that they work alongside traditional models to offer zero-barrier access to food and to help fill gaps in the system. Since mini pantries are small, they cannot stock the quantity and variety of foods that would be available at a food bank, nor are the contents of a mini pantry predictable.