As a young adult, Amber Daugs of Manitowoc found herself without a place to live and in need of food. She had never been to a food pantry before, and she approached her first appointment with trepidation.
Fast forward 27 years, and Daugs is the founder and CEO of Grow It Forward , a nonprofit organization focused on providing healthy food to the Manitowoc community through pantry access, gardens and free weekly meals.
The pantries are self-service kiosks where community members can take and contribute food or hygiene items. Unlike traditional food banks, Little Free Pantries are accessible 24 hours a day. Since the pantries are not staffed, people who are nervous about asking for help can avoid awkward interactions like Daugs had.
Grow It Forward hosts a distribution of food boxes with fresh produce and dairy on Thursdays and Fridays from 2 to 5 p. To receive a box, visitors only need to give their income and household size — no paperwork or identification is required. Daugs said this might change depending on federal guidelines. The Little Free Pantry, however, is totally self-serve and available any day of the week, at any time of the day or night, which Daugs said is critical for helping people and children in the community.
She noted that more than three-quarters of the students at nearby Jefferson Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Daugs said the most popular pantry items are convenience foods like granola bars, cereal boxes and ramen noodles. A woman in the neighborhood who likes to crochet sometimes leaves handmade winter hats in the pantry. When Eric Salzwedel and his wife purchased a house in Marshall in late , he was excited to have a place to install a Little Free Pantry, which he had heard about on social media.
