When a set of 15-year-old triplets put their heads together to think of a meaningful way to spend extra quarantine time, their collective effort gave life to what is now the Little Free Pantry of Wainscott.
Brooks, Charlie, and Ellie Clifford had their interest in community service piqued by a cousin who's been raising money for the Navajo Nation. All that newfound time indoors, Ellie said, had been "a big change from normal life that also gave us a great opportunity."
Their first move was to research free-pantry installations and figure out the cost of buying one. The Cliffords circulated a GoFundMe among their family and friends, raising $2,000 from nine contributors, which allowed them to take the first step and invest in an approximately $600 pantry.
The triplets then spoke with a Wainscott Chapel board member to inquire about putting a pantry out front of the chapel, where their parents, both of whom grew up in Wainscott, were married. Brooks, Charlie, and Ellie's house is in the Georgica Association, just a minute away from their Little Free Pantry location. The siblings, who live full time in Bronxville, N.Y., and attend Bronxville High School, have been here since March because of Covid-19 and will stay until school reopens.
They set up the pantry on June 18, and their proximity has allowed them to keep an eye on it since then, stocking the cupboard with non-perishable items like canned goods, cereal, pasta, granola bars, and crackers. "It's not just people taking things," said Charlie. "We also have to replenish it. But a lot of people put things in, too."
"Last week, one person took all the food and left a note saying thank you for doing this, they really needed it. So then we refilled the pantry. But other than that, it's people taking one or two items and leaving usually one for return," said Brooks.
Ellie noted that they must trust that people are taking the necessary precautions against Covid-19; they themselves wipe and clean off the food before putting it in the pantry. "One thing that really surprised us was people's willingness to give back. We didn't know if they would, but people sometimes leave five or six things at a time."
The Cliffords will keep the pantry in place at least through the summer. They might try to find someone local to keep it running when they go back to school, they said, and are also considering introducing a Little Food Pantry in Bronxville.
Other free pantries here include one at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton, which is open year round but has seen increased demand since the start of the pandemic.
