I live well below the poverty line, so I live in a cheap, slummy apartment building where everybody else is poor, too. For the most part, I like this setup. I grew up in poverty, and I’m not …

I suspect many of the people reading this will think “this is not relevant to me because I don’t live in an apartment building” or “because I don’t know my neighbors” or “because greedy people will just steal from it” or “because food pantries are the government’s job” or “because I’m not poor enough to need this so reading this won’t benefit me”.

If you see the title and think you don’t need to read it, that’s a sign you need to read it. Because it’s not just about the practicalities of setting up a shared pantry - it’s about how to think about poverty and community and charity and mutual aid.

It’s a wonderful article. Read.

  • southsamurai
    7·
    10 months ago

    We talked about doing something like that, after covid hit things. But we’re too damn rural, even here on the edge of town. Critters would get attracted to it, and there’s enough problems with them as is. So we do it as more of an active communication, where everybody has a little stashed away, and all you have to do is knock/call and we hook each other up, no questions asked.