Jessica Schirm’s fully stocked pantry in Pella, IA shortly after it was first put into place in December of 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n

The students are identifying partners that will help host and basically adopt one of the free pantries. By the end of the semester, the LEAD capstone will have put in eight pantries around the Drake University neighborhood. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Sedlacek hopes to bridge a gap in the deserted areas of the communities. \u201cAn idea we have is putting resource information into our pantries,\u201d Sedlacek said. \u201cIf you\u2019re hungry or homeless, here\u2019s different agencies. That\u2019s the ultimate goal, because a little free pantry isn\u2019t going to solve that hunger.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For founder Jessica McClard, the expansion of her little free pantry has been eye-opening. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cI feel like so many people who are in need feel shame, and I think that\u2019s extremely unfortunate because we all need,\u201d McClard said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most profound joy in my life,\u201d McClard said. \u201cAnd it continues to amaze me when I drive by mine to put things in it, there will already be things there. And this is going on 10 months later. It\u2019s an amazing thing to witness.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This box on a post is hoping to tackle food insecurities in local neighborhoods across the country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n