HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. — Take what you need and give what you can. That's the motto of Feedingteam.org.
"This goal gets accomplished through the efforts of a lot of people," said Mark Hall, the co-founder.
He and his wife, Lisa, started putting pantries up just over a year ago. They are filled with non-perishable foods like ramen and soup.
"There are people in Hamilton County that are as food-challenged as anywhere else," said Hall.
The pantries are placed where some people may not expect them to be needed.
"Please understand that the face of hunger in Hamilton County is not what most people think," Hall said. "They think of Hamilton County, they think of Noblesville, they think of Carmel, they think of Westfield. 'Oh, that's a very affluent county,' and it is, but it's also a food-challenged county."
Before getting started, the Halls did their research.
"We brought in a data scientist," Hall said. "We pulled in the data from the American Unity Survey's Data and said, 'Let's see Hamilton County' and 'See how many hungry neighbors we have in Hamilton County defined as those that are in that income level, just above poverty?' The map just lit up — 27,000 food-challenged neighbors in Hamilton County out of about 350,000 people. That was before the pandemic."
Their passion for this cause is strong because it's personal.
"Back in 1986 and '87, Lisa and I had two small children at home, both under the age of 4, and we would get to Thursday, and we were both working. We don't know anything about pantries, we don't know anything about trustees, we just know that we are running light on food, and we get paid on Friday," said Hall. "We're pretty average folks, so if we're that way, we figured there was a lot of other people the same way."
Since starting this venture, they've seen dozens of heartwarming stories of neighbors helping neighbors.
"Those same people inevitably come back six months or a year later and say, 'Look, during the pandemic, I lived out of that pantry,'" Hall said. "I want to honor the model, I want to give back what I took, and we've seen it time and time and time again."
Feedingteam.org currently has 27 pantries but is looking to expand. Right now, they have 60 volunteers but are looking for more help! To find more information about volunteering or donating, visit the website.