Community Member Makes Food Pantry in Response to Loss of Jobs from COVID

During the Coronavirus pandemic many people lost their jobs, seven-year-old Elita Koenig decided to take action to create a mini food pantry for people that cannot afford food during these tough times in the Hartford community.

Koenig and her mother, Amanda Koenig, have been going to food pantries in Milwaukee long before the pandemic started. When the pandemic hit its peak, over 20.5 million people lost their jobs according to the New York Times. When her daughter noticed this, she was encouraged to start a food pantry in Hartford to help the local community.

“She was concerned for all the people who were not working and asked if we could run a pantry,” Amanda said.. In the beginning of the process Amanda says “We did not know how we would keep up with the need, but trusted God would provide.”

“I wanted to make the pantry because I wanted to let people know in our community that they are not alone and god loves them,” Elita said.

The pantry first began with home donations to get the pantry started off. “We filled it the first day with personal donations and within less than 24 hours it was almost empty,” said Amanda. She then says “We wanted the pantry on Monroe which is a busier road.”

To get the word out, Amanda posted on the Hartford WI Concerns, Questions and Discussions page on Facebook. “Within the first day we had a few bags of food donated as well as a couple larger cash donations that we were able to use to purchase supplies,” Amanda said.

At one point of the mini food pantry, “Our overstock was so full and donations were so high. We were in contact with a teacher within the school district who gave us addresses of families in need,” Amanda said. “With their permission we were able to drop boxes of food that was perishable and not able to be stocked in the pantry.”

With the demand in the food pantry a refrigerator was needed to store more food. From a donation on Facebook, they were able to give away dairy and meat products.