Pant ry
RED APRON
If you haven’t already heard, JLSB’s food pantry is the bee’s knees. From the feeding of our community to flexibility for volunteer hours, there is much to gain from the Red Apron Pantry for both our community and our League members. Beginning as a shadow during my Provisional year to now serving as the pantry’s head volunteer, I’ve seen much good come from this community outreach placement. I can’t wait to share how the Red Apron Pantry has evolved for our community and our members over the last four years. When I first started with Red Apron Pantry, we partnered with We Grow Together in order to provide food for those in the Stoner Hill neighborhood. Since then, we have been able to move into our own space in Suite D of the League office. This move has allowed us to serve more families in our community by offering food to anyone who qualifies in Caddo Parish, expanding from the Stoner Hill neighborhood. Moving into the League office has also provided us a place to store food month to month, which offers more and better food options for our clients. Shortly after moving the pantry into the League office, then head volunteer, Stacey Melerine, was able to secure a donated freezer. As simple as this change may sound, the addition provided a huge benefit for our clients. Red Apron Pantry is now able to not only provide more and better food options, we also have the ability to provide even healthier options. We are now able to provide our clients with foods such as frozen chicken breasts, healthy freezer meals, dairy products, and fresh fruits. Following our exciting freezer addition, we were hit with the global pandemic. During a time when the world was closed, our team forged ahead for our community. Quickthinking Kendra Joseph, last League year’s Red Apron Pantry head volunteer, made changes to food distribution to protect our volunteers and clients. The pantry moved from a self-serve model to an efficient drive thru. Not only were our clients able to still pick up healthy food options each month, many new clients were served from pantries that were unable to remain open during the harshest times of COVID-19. I was fortunate to inherit the thriving food pantry and continue to nurture all of the great aspects that Stacey and Kendra created. Red Apron Pantry has even been able to offer more for our community than the regular monthly food
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Lindey Smith
distribution at the League office. Within days following Hurricane Ida, we had a team together to serve many families who had been displaced to our area. We are also setup to serve individual community members in the event of an emergency. From a great but smaller mobile food pantry to the ability to serve a large number of clients in a moment’s notice, the Red Apron Pantry has evolved extensively over the last four League years. Not only is the pantry a great thing for our community, it is also a great place to serve as a League member and volunteer. There are a variety of rewarding volunteer opportunities that offer flexibility or consistency. Volunteers are able to choose whether to be the face of the pantry by distributing monthly to our clients or work behind the scenes by packing boxes of food each month. There are options to work alone and at a volunteer’s convenience and availability, or create lasting relationships by serving alongside other pantry volunteers. Volunteers are even able to change their volunteer placement within the pantry each month to get a real feel of all that goes into maintaining a food pantry. With countless volunteer opportunities and great community outreach growth, the Red Apron Pantry is a great place to serve! I’m lucky to be part of its growth and evolution, and I invite you to volunteer for this placement and experience its greatness for yourself.
