“Food scarcity is present even in our wonderful community.”

Athena Rose
Special to Spur Ottawa

Facing inflation and steadily rising food prices, people are increasingly relying on foodbanks. Many are torn, feeling alone and wanting to save face, yet struggling to feed their family. Yet, three years ago, Redeemer Alliance Church started a small project that is making a big difference in their neighborhood.

“Like everything in the last two years, the community need has been greater,” says Janice Damude, a volunteer for the Redeemer Alliance’s community food pantry and library. “With people losing their jobs, or the price of items being raised and out of reach for some, the need has been greater for sure.”

The church’s little food pantry and little library started with their youth pastor’s desire for a community library. The church decided to bless the community on a more practical level.

“Food scarcity is present even in our wonderful community,” Damude reports. “[The pantry] allows those from the community an opportunity to gather food anonymously. They didn’t have to be embarrassed to reach out for food.”

While church members were very generous with their donations, the congregation is relatively small. So, they decided to also give their neighbors an opportunity to be a blessing to each other. With a “take what you need, leave what you can” basis, the pantry is designed to be a self-sufficient resource, available for any community members to use, regardless of their financial situation.

“I had one young lady who asked specifically for a Bible that was easy to understand.”

But the pantry needed to also be easily accessible in a physical sense. “It is situated along the walking path behind the church, so many people walk, run, and bike past it every day,” Damude explains. “Many times, when I am filling the pantry side or tidying the library side, I have people stop and chat with me. I have had nothing but good things said about it.”

The church created a Facebook page to help garner attention from the community.

“I first heard about the library/pantry via Facebook,” says community member Tracy Lawson Braithwaite. “I was very intrigued. As I followed the posts I thought it was such a wonderful initiative over the years, and especially in this time of economic uncertainty.”

The Facebook page has also allowed neighbors to message the church and discretely ask for extra help, when they have bigger needs. Damude has been happy to put together boxes for these families and says she a local food-sharing group also reached out to offer a bigger donation.

The program does need some upkeep, which Damude takes care of. She rotates the books on the library side and for the pantry she maintains any food items that are prone to perishing during weather changes. She also organizes small events, like a recent book give away.

“We had all the books out on tables, for the community to just walk by and take a book. I had one young lady who asked specifically for a Bible that was easy to understand,” Damude adds excitedly. “That made my heart skip a beat!”

Nearly three years after it was established, the pantry is even more necessary in the wake of COVID. Today, Braithwaite shares, “It’s amazing to me how one person started this and the community has profited and assisted in making it such a blessing to many. It fills your heart to know people are helping each other.”