BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The number of Little Free Pantries in Bloomfield doubled on Nov. 21, when a new one was unveiled on the lawn of Brookdale Reformed Church. A collaboration between the church and Montclair-based nonprofit Northeast Earth Coalition, the “take what you need and leave what you can” concept is similar to the Little Free Libraries around town; people who pass it can fill the pantry with nonperishable food items and those who need something to eat can take items.
“I was traveling through Yellow Springs, Ohio, and saw this at a church there,” Jose German-Gomez, the founder and CEO of the coalition, which works to protect local sustainability and food security, said in an interview with The Independent Press at the event. “I thought I could bring it back to New Jersey.”
To celebrate his birthday last October, German-Gomez donated a pantry to First Congregational Church in Montclair. He quickly built a network of volunteers over the next few months, and 12 pantries are now scattered around the area: two in Bloomfield, six in Montclair, and one each in East Orange, Cedar Grove, Clifton and Paterson.
“When someone is passing by and sees that it needs restocking, they tell the other volunteers,” German-Gomez said. “One of the beautiful things about it is people’s hospitality.”
The new Bloomfield pantry isn’t the only one located at a worship space; German-Gomez said several of the others are as well. All religions wanted to get involved.
“It’s all denominations,” he said. “They’re at synagogues, Unitarian churches, Baptist churches. Everyone is coming together.”
Brookdale Reformed Church is a good location for a little pantry: It’s surrounded by a residential neighborhood, is right next door to Brookdale Park and is only a couple of blocks away from ShopRite in case any emergency refills need to be made. The Rev. Susan Dorward said in an interview with The Independent Press at the event that the church will keep a collection of food on hand to restock the pantry when necessary.
“It doesn’t take up a huge footprint, and it’s meaningful,” she said. “We like to eat, but we also like to give food away.”
The church runs regular food drives and donates to area food pantries, so having a little pantry on the premises made sense. Bloomfield residents Jane Califf and Ted Glick, who are members of the church, are going to keep an eye on what needs to be stocked and expiration dates. Because the pantry is outside and not refrigerated, only nonperishable items can be donated.
“It’s separated by what can be cooked and non-cooking items, because not everyone has that ability,” Dorward said. “There are things like nutrition bars that will still fill you up. Thinking of Thanksgiving coming up, not everyone can say that they have a place to be or food. We’d like to change that.”
Word of mouth about the pantries that were already operating spread fast, according to German-Gomez. The volunteers sometimes exchange food from one pantry with food from another if one has too much of one item but not enough of another.
“I never expected it to have such a big impact so fast,” he said. “It’s something little and grassroots that can help people with food insecurity.”
Dorward agrees.
“We’re a small congregation of only 30 or 40 people,” she said. “You don’t have to be part of a huge group to do something.”
Photos by Amanda Valentovic
Little Free Pantry opens at Brookdale Reformed Church in Bloomfield added by Amanda Valentovic on
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