SAUGUS — In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer Crotty realized that while she had a stable job and was as comfortable as one could be during that time, others weren’t as lucky, so The Little Free Pantry was created.
“I started it sometime in 2020. … I realized I was fortunate enough to still have a job during that time, and a lot of people didn’t. This was just a little thing that I could do for the community,” Crotty said.
She said that community members have helped stock the pantry, and it mostly gets used during the summer months.
“People have been really great. They’ll just leave boxes of food on my doorstep. I don’t know who they are. They don’t ring the bell, they just leave it,” she said.
Crotty said one woman used to stop by frequently, and she ended up being a home health aid who was taking things she knew the people she cared for needed.
“She said, ‘I’m sorry if I’m taking too much,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not at all.’ We had a conversation about what those people needed, and I started stocking it with things she told me they needed, and that was great,” Crotty said.
She noted that the pantry has had a few incidents with snow plows hitting it, a tree falling on it, or someone even taking the whole pantry.
“That happened at the beginning of the summer. I just thought, well, they needed it, so it’s ok,” she said. “But in general, it’s just been people taking what they need and leaving what they can.”
Crotty believes that there have been five pantries at this point due to the little incidents, but the one she has now, she found while cleaning out some of her uncle’s things.
“My uncle, who lived with me, passed away, and I was cleaning out his stuff. I found this one, and I was like, ‘Oh, this would make a really great pantry,'” she said.
At first, Crotty was going to take the summer off, but she felt that finding the new pantry was a sign for her to get it back out.
“I meant to paint it a sunshine yellow, but it ended up a Big Bird yellow, so now I call it Big Bird Pantry,” she said. “I’m hoping the color will help the snow plows not hit it.”
Crotty continues to keep the pantry stocked, not just with food but also with soaps, toothbrushes, razors, and other essentials people may need.
