La Crosse neighborhood activist raises money for little food pantries

Plan now is to create more, near schools and senior centers

They’re little pantries with a big need.

It’s what convinced La Crosse Livable Neighborhood vice president Charley Weeth to fundraise for more little free pantries in the city.

The pantries are small cabinets just off the street, where non-perishable food and supplies are available for those in need. And plenty need it, says Weeth.

“There’s a lot of people who fall between the cracks,” he said. “They don’t have any benefits or their benefits are limited and the end of the month comes and you have hungry kids.”

There’s just one little free pantry so far in La Crosse. It’s outside of Hamilton Elementary School.

Weeth would like to see maybe a dozen more. In a facebook fundraiser, Weeth asked for $500 in donations. It took all of one day and was not surprised.

“No, not at all,” he said. “This is La Crosse. People are really generous and caring here. So, I’m not surprised at all. Some people said I should set the goal lower but $500 is not hard.”

Part of that money is targeted to the Hamilton Elementary pantry.

“The goal of this fundraiser is to stock that through the winter of course, but also to build more little free pantries for other areas of the city,” Weeth said. “The big thing is, you’re feeding hungry children and that’s always a good thing.”

Weeth would like to add more little free pantries in front of all the city’s school’s and senior centers, eventually.

While the pantries contain food, they also carry non-food items like soap and toilet paper.