Making food more accessible for everyone
Little Free Pantry of Louisiana opens on LA Tech’s campus
RUSTON, La. (KNOE) - The Little Free Pantry Louisiana expanded into Louisiana Tech and welcomed its own as the third location in Ruston.
The pantry allows anyone in the community to come and help themselves if they need food or toiletries.
The idea came when the founder, Ethan Jeffus, was helping in the community and wanted to answer a simple question.
“I have a deep background in volunteering with local food banks and pantries,” said Jeffus. “How can we make food accessible, more accessible to anyone whenever they need it most?”
One student, Zeik Theriot, found it helpful.
“Since this has come to the campus in Ruston, I have used it a handful of times to get some food,” said Theriot. “Leaving class or Tolliver here, I’ll walk by, oh, I need to eat tonight. So bam, it’s right there. There’s a box of mac and cheese.”
Restocking the locations is just as easy.
“It’s just a come by and stock it kind of thing,” explained Jeffus. ”So through our web page, we have a map which is a network of all the Little Free Pantries in our state, finding a Little Free Pantry closest to you, and then go stock it.”
There are seven locations in Louisiana and three of them are in Ruston.
Theriot stressed people should not be embarrassed to take from the pantry.
“Try not to worry about what other people are thinking, everybody struggles in their own ways. For this, we all got to eat so I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Theriot.
Pantry locations have only been opened in North and South Louisiana.
“We’re looking at expanding in a lot of different areas, but the main region we’re looking into is central Louisiana,” said Jeffus.
He is looking for people close to Alexandria to sponsor a location for central Louisiana.
Anyone interested in sponsoring a Little Free Pantry location can go to their Facebook page for more information.
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