A community pantry installed by NBCC students is helping those in need.
The cupboard, filled with non-perishable food and other items is at the Webb Vance Memorial Field on Whitepine Road in Riverview.
Melissa Scribner is a student in Social Service Community worker program, “If they just need a box of cereal or a couple school snacks for a couple of days until they get paid or until their appointment at the food bank, again, it’s there. It’s discreet. There’s no other people watching you. It’s just there, you take it and go. It’s anonymous.”
Scribner says they came up with the idea after watching videos of a British Columbia woman who maintained a number of community pantries.
Students do daily checks and restocking, but Scribner says they are seeing a lot of use in only two weeks.
(Photo: submitted)
There are a lot of items to choose from, “Dog Food, cat food, canned goods, Kraft Dinner, cereals, coffee, hygiene products, feminine products, diapers, formula,” Scribner adds.
The reason Riverview was chosen, Scribner says it was primarily because of time constraints, “We reached out to Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview. Riverview was the one to get back to us first, and they were definitely on board. They do have some little library community, kind of similar ideas throughout review. So I think they already kind of knew the concept and understood. We have been in contact with Moncton since and they did give us a contact to reach out to, so we are working on that end. As of right now, it was just Riverview was because our class was so short of a time. It was a quick process once once we had the go ahead,” Scribner says.
Scribner says they are counting on the community going forward once the school year wraps up, “Our class will be graduating and moving on and we really are hoping that the community would make sure if it’s empty, they’ll put some stuff in it.”
(Photo: submitted)
