LOLO — Cortney Hansen is one of six women who regularly check in on The Free Little Pantry in Lolo. The group of volunteers each have a day or two to check on the stockpile, so that no one goes hungry.
“We like to make sure that everybody has access to food and low hunger is not a good thing for anybody, especially kids,” Hansen said Saturday.
“So The Little Free Pantry is here just to kind of keep the edge off for people," Hansen told MTN News. "We try to keep it as full as possible with donations from the community,"
Anyone is welcome to take or donate to The Little Free Pantry, and when you open the doors you can see that there are lots of nonperishable items, which is what they request. The volunteers say that if you do have a perishable item that you would like to donate, they are more than willing to take them and store for you.
“There are a lot of people that are in need and can't make it to town to get food or they can't make it in between the food bank days,” said Hansen.
And that is the goal behind the pantry- to help relieve some of the pressure for kids and families who are in need of food.
Located at Lolo Drug, The Little Free Pantry is a central location for those in the community.
“And even people outside of our community donate to it so that we can try to keep hungry people fed,” said Hansen.
The group is always looking for more donations, especially as the holiday season approaches, as Hansen says they always see an increase in the number of people using the pantry then.