The Rose Street Food Pantry closed October 27, 2023. It was open for three years in the Westbrae neighborhood in Berkeley, California.
Why did I start this project?
hi. My name is Veronica and I started this project as a way to provide food to people in Oakland, Berkeley, Albany and El Cerrito who are struggling with food insecurity. I reached out to local businesses and large food banks in Berkeley who had extra food and bread and stocked it several times a day with high quality food and hygiene supplies.
It was all based on the Honor System. People started to come every day and I really put my heart and soul into it. So you are probably wondering why I closed it, right?
Here are 4 reasons why I closed it.
1. It became impossible to keep it stocked, because people were coming by and taking everything. They were stealthy and they worked quickly! I realized that an unsupervised pantry that is open 24 hours a day just was not going to work anymore. It worked most of the time for the first 2 years. Then, it seemed that word got out to people who don't understand the intention of it. That this is food for sharing, and it's for everyone. I'd fill it up with food and and 10 minutes later it would be empty. The whole point of it was to feed as many people as possible. Was that naive?! Maybe. It doesn't matter now.
2. Cleaning. No one wants to take free food if there is rice spilled everywhere on the shelves or sticky stuff... so I wiped down the shelves daily. A big part of why I wanted to do this was to elevate food that had been rescued. Leaving food on the ground that is donated does not work. If it's presented on a clean shelf that has clearly been cared for, people are much more likely to take it home.
3. Vandalism. This happened a few times a month. What did it look like? Signage ripped down and thrown on the ground. Food dumped on the ground and thrown into the street. Wrappers left everywhere. Tagging. Various forms of anger and violation, that to me was a form of feedback. I wondered why it was happening, when it happened. It was demoralizing and depressing. I wondered if the people who did these things were frustrated that they made the trek there and there wasn't anything on the shelves. There was also a guy who would leave anti-abortion pamphlets in the pantry on every shelf, every day and I would toss them, every day. When this kind of stuff happened, I wanted to quit. I learned that when you do a project like this, you see the best of humanity and you also see the worst.
4. Time.
The project was taking up way more of my time than I had to give. It was not a minor endeavor and it did not run itself. I am the type of person that doesn't do things in a half-assed way. Either do it well, or don't do it at all. I know now from this experience that bringing love, care and attention to any project I put my energy into is the only way I want to serve.
So last year, I made the hard decision to close it. Even so I knew it was helping people in a direct way, I chose not to continue this cycle of overgiving and resentment. These problems (like greed, vandalism, no regard for other people) are things that are not within my control. But it was within my control to stop doing a project that drained me and left me feeling that people are assholes.
I still get emails from people who want to donate food, and it's a year later. I know it made an impact. I met so many people who really loved giving to it, and finding great food there. It saved everyone a ton of money on their grocery bills.
I might do another one in 2025, but it will be a Pop Up that is wheeled out at specific times. It will not be available 24-7, that's for sure. That was the biggest take away! So now I know. I will continue to DO SOMETHING and create the kind of world that I want to live in. Projects like this do make a difference.
The Positive Stuff
The pantry became a point of contact for us to all connect with each other, and that's one of the things I miss the most. I truly loved the way it brought people in our neighborhood together. Thank you to all of our neighbors who took the time to drop food off, shared food from their fruit trees and gardens and volunteered by picking up bread at ACME every Wednesday. Your generosity had a ripple effect.
A huge thank you to Colleen F. Your generosity helped us establish trust with everyone. You ordered and gifted thousands of bags for the bread and you sent us tons of food that we would put out and it would be gone in a half hour. Thank you to Kai for all the times you waited in line at ACME for over a year. Thank you to Berkeley Food Network, Berkeley Food Pantry, STARTER bakery and Berkeley Free Clinic for donating thousands of dollars of socks and food. Thank you to Suzanna on Virginia Street for the beautiful food from your fruit trees!
How did it work?
Since it was open 24 hours a day, we filled the gaps in the food system. It was a place people could go to get food when all other food banks were closed. People came at all hours of the day. I would see cars stopping at 10pm, and lots of people in the morning and throughout the day.
Who used the food pantry?
Seniors on a fixed income, single moms & dads, nannies, day laborers, high school kids, people who are in between jobs, people who are living in their cars and folks who are experiencing homelessness. Lots of people came by bike. We would see the same people come in their cars. It became a destination and a reliable source of food.
We built trust with the people who used the pantry every day. They knew that all the food there was safe. Anything that was not in good condition was removed. I loved that people would bring food from their gardens, and fruit trees.
We gave out BOMBAS socks, fresh produce, coffee beans, hygiene supplies and shelf stable food over the years. The dollar value of what was given away in 3 years was over $80,000.
What I learned:
Mutual aid works if there is a group of people who are actively caring for the project on a regular basis. I think a project like this would work best if there are 4 people who are taking care of it and each person is responsible for one week- to check the pantry multiple times, to clean it and stock it. Also, hyperlocal works. Try to reach out to people within a 5 block radius. A project like this is not meant to scale up and serve 100 people a day. People really need food. Food is very expensive and there are a ton of places to get free food. It's just a matter of distributing it responsibly and with joy.
I still believe that we can be creative in how we redistribute food. Especially food that is going to be thrown out and end up in the dumpster. Find a way to get food to people in your neighborhood who need it.
If you are inspired to do a DIY pantry, please get in touch with me! I support you.
– Veronica
Read the article about our food sharing project in Berkeleyside
