Teen's 'little pantry' project offers free food in 6 locations around Raleigh

Over the last few years, childhood poverty has surged in North Carolina. One in five kids experiences food insecurity in the state.

William Winslow, 16, is working to address that.

"Everything hit home for me when I learned that even someone sitting crisscross apple sauce next to me could be in need and didn’t have enough food," said Winslow. "That hit me hard."

When he was just 7, Winslow became passionate about solutions-based efforts focused on childhood hunger.

Now, nearly a decade later, the teen's efforts have expanded from raising money and collecting donations to building and setting up little free pantries around Raleigh.

It began with two roadside pantries in 2019 as Winslow's Eagle Scout service project. Now, there are six.

• Western Boulevard Presbyterian Church; 4900 Kaplan Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606
• Avent Ferry United Methodist Church; 2700 Avent Ferry Rd., Raleigh, NC 27606
• The Well Fed Community Garden; 1321 Athens Dr, Raleigh, NC 27606
• Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; 1801 Hillsborough St, Raleigh, NC 27605
• Holy Trinity Lutheran Church; 2723 Clark Ave., Raleigh, NC 27607
• Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church; 7506 Falls of Neuse Rd, Raleigh, NC 27615

Inside, the items might surprise you. It’s a one-stop shop, filled with snacks to toddler socks, canned goods, cake mix, water bottles and washcloths.

Anyone in need can "shop" the pantry for free. Those in position to give can drop off items.

"We just wanted to put them in accessible positions for pedestrians and people in need, in general," Winslow said as he was going through a bunch of donations dropped off on his family's doorstep.

Despite North Carolina’s economic success for some, more kids are growing up in poverty today than several years ago. Over the last 20 years, the number of children who are poor has grown three times faster than the childhood population as a whole, according to a recently published report from the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund.

Winslow says the pandemic has caused a greater need for items from these pantries.

"Before COVID, we’d maybe have one pantry emptied every week," said the teen. "Now, as the need has grown, it’s all of them that are empty each week."

Through monetary and in-kind donations to his nonprofit organization, the teen and his family maintain the inventory. They estimate they spend about $300 every week to stock the shelves.

Winslow says this project has made him realize not only how wide-reaching hunger is in our community but how giving and kind some people can be too.

"It’s kind of sad to see that people who have the most, give the least but people with the least, give the most."