CITIZEN SPOTLIGHT
Aley Cristelli of Pine Pantry ALEY CRISTELLI’S LOVE OF FOOD LED HER TO SHARING IT WITH HER COMMUNITY IN A NEW WAY. Story and photos by Berlin Green
Food brings people together, and food resources,” she said. Aley Cristelli uses her Pine Pantry “Hopefully, if somebody to connect with her neighbors. is food insecure, they’re “I definitely got started because reaching out and getting of the idea of sharing a love for food,” SNAP, or if they’re eligiCristelli said. “My grandmother used ble, WIC for their kids, or to do this thing at Christmas time working with the Food where she’d spend weekends baking Bank, there are all of all of these cookies. Then right before these other resources. Christmas, all the cousins would go But they can be slow and Aley Cristelli of Pine Pantry to her house and we’d take these sometimes not enough, plates of cookies to all the neighbors. so the pantry is there to help. Plus want? What are your favorite snacks? So some of it is just seeing the love we have a lot of people who are exI’ll try to get them next time.’ Now from that. Every time we went to her periencing homelessness and they there are so many people across the house, we’d leave with bags of food need a bottle of water and a snack city that I know their favorite food, and snacks and soups, and all this right then and there.” which is important to me because I stuff that she made for us, and that The pantries encourage others to love to know everyone’s favorite food. memory really inspired this. When consider the needs of their neighbors. … We are feeding people, but also I moved here from Dallas, I honestEach location is entirely communityreally connecting people, and it for ly didn’t have the best attitude about driven, with donors who personally sure connected me to the city that it; it didn’t feel keep them wasn’t home.” like home. I was stocked. This month Pine Pantry will cellike, ‘Well, you’ve “Our donors ebrate its sixth anniversary. Aley has got to do someare really our volno way to track the number of people thing to make it unteers, and they the pantries serve or how much food feel like home. I are out there passes through them. To her, the learned about doing it without numbers aren’t the point. the free little any recognition,” “I’ll have people tell me that six pantry moveCristelli said. different people stuck food in there ment online and “ T her e are that day, then when I go by, it’s how they were countless people empty,” Cristelli said. “So things turn popping up all that donate that over really quickly. Sometimes over the country. I have never met people get kind of sad when they see When I came and probably a pantry that’s empty. I actually, like, across a pantry never will meet, get happy about it. When I first in McKinney, which is pretty started, my biggest fear was that Texas, I thought, cool in a city I nobody was going to use it. Those ‘If they can do it, didn’t grow up in. first few days, I kept going by to I can do it.’ So I We were having check. It wasn’t long before I started reached out and coffee at NEON to see things gone, and then I started asked some quesin the Plaza and to see new things put in there. An tions and decided I’m looking over empty pantry is actually the goal to ma ke it at the pantry, and because we don’t want to stock the The Pine Pantry at Andrew Johnson Elementary happen here.” I saw this older pantry just to feel good and have it School stands stocked. Aley reached man pull up. He’s look cute. We want people to be fed out to her network and quickly got his bags, puts it all in, arranges it and nourished.” found someone to build her first perfectly, then leaves. You could tell The needs can vary by season, but pantry. Before she knew it, it had a this was a regular thing for him, and many items are needed year-round. home in the Plaza District and is I thought that was so cool. There are “Non-perishable items are always now located in front of Bad Granny’s all these people that use the pantries a big need. We also take pet food Bazaar. Aly Cunningham requested that I never, ever would have thought. because that gets used a lot as well,” a Pine Pantry at each of the four So I’ve come to see the pantry as a Cristelli said. “Then small household Sunnyside Diner locations and a placemaking space. It gives you this items like toiletries and laundry desixth location at Andrew Johnson connecting point with people who tergent, small things that everybody Elementary helps meet the needs of you might not know how to talk to. uses and needs. It’s funny, the one families in the community, often So, like if you see somebody on the thing that, like, never gets taken is simply helping with an extra snack street and it’s uncomfortable because Jiffy cornbread mix. I was very surin food-insecure homes. you don’t know what to do or what prised by that. But it’s not a ready“Pine Pantry is meant to fill in to say. For me, I get to say, ‘Hey, here’s to-eat food, so it makes sense. If the gaps of other more traditional this pantry. Do you see anything you you’re experiencing homelessness, 10
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you don’t have time to figure out a way to make something, and more than that, you likely don’t have the means to. If you’re in underserved housing, you might be working several jobs, so you want something quick. Pull-top ravioli and SpaghettiOs are popular. Granola bars. Things that are easy. Bottled water and sunscreen are important as it starts getting all Oklahoma on us. ChapStick is a good one that we may not think of. I like to keep it stocked with people’s favorite snacks. I put my own favorite snacks in there all the time, so there is always going to be pudding in there. But ultimately, food items that are easy and quick. Oftentimes people will stand right there at the pantry and eat, which honestly, that says a lot.” Aley knows her pantries can’t end food insecurity, but hopes they can help fill a gap and help people from going hungry. Through her extensive background in public health, she hopes to help usher change in policy reform and increase access to healthy food. “As we go into year six, my personal goals with the pantry are to make sure the ones we have are stocked and can be a real resource for people. But also to really expand the conversation about food policy and food insecurity. We aren’t changing the world by one person getting a meal. It’s a much, much bigger problem than what we’re doing. I think this is a small stepping stone into the bigger issues, and as we move forward, I hope that that’s what we can start talking about. But policy is very slow, and we have to have something in the interim to help us keep going.” To learn more about Pine Pantry or how you can help, visit facebook. com/pinepantry17.
