A Woman's Vision To Share Food, Art Supples, Community Takes Off

GREENPORT, NY — A Greenport woman is continuing her mission to create a community that shares.

Penelope Rudder, whose vision was the spark behind "Our Little Free Pantry," a place where residents can drop off food for those who are hungry in Greenport, has recently kicked off Our Little Free Pantry's "Sharing Sundays."

The events are held where the Farmers Market was located, at 414 First Street in Greenport, she said.

"People can bring food to share as well as art supplies and garden tools. Those are all so expensive!" she said.

Rudder hopes to create an "Our Little Free Art Pantry," too, she said. "Food for the body and food for the soul. I also have donations there that I have collected that I can't squeeze into the little pantry."

The hope, Rudder added, is that individuals will be able to share their gardens, as well, with more fresh produce. "Too many zucchini? Bring them and see what you'd like to take," she said. "This is not a new concept at all. It's neighbors sharing with neighbors — and making a special time to do it. My hope is to create another way of 'wasting less, sharing more' and protecting our environment — as well as nourishing the community. It's lots of fun, seeing how this can evolve."

Also, she said, from the most recent Sharing Sundays event, goods will move on to another community of families who contacted her on Tuesday for compost.

The first Sharing Sunday happened as a tribute to the Martin Luther King Day of Service. "Our Little Free Pantry's first 'Sharing Sunday' happened quickly, thanks to the generosity of the Greenport Marketplace and our community's willingness to come together and support each other. It was beautiful! And there will be many, many more," Rudder said.

The most recent event took place Sunday; Rudder added that she plans to set up a regular schedule soon. The next date is slated for Feb. 16.

"The concept for sharing openly like this is part of my Wish List and is a natural outgrowth of OLFP's guiding principles and our vision for a 'nourished', joyful and just community," Rudder said. "The first Sharing Sunday was all I hoped it would be, a fantastic afternoon with all who came to freely give and take."

Her mission and the premise behind "Sharing Sundays," Rudder said, is to embrace the positive side of food waste.

"We look at it instead as 'food abundance' and how we can share all we have more openly, more fairly — and do it with joy," she said. "By doing so, food is saved, given a new table — and more are nourished, in every sense of the word. Mother Nature gets her share, as well, without being burdened by excess loss."

Our Little Free Pantry, Rudder said, "is not about charity at all. It is about justice and building community where we all help support each other."

Our Little Free Art Pantry, she added, will symbolize a step further into nourishing the community.

"Art is an essential food for the soul — and the supplies are expensive. Many sit half-used in drawers. Our hope is to gather these up and provide supplies for our community artists to use and then find a space to gather together and create."

The most recent Sharing Sunday, Rudder said, was a "wonderful 'share,' small, relaxed, joyous and growing into another model of sharing. Like OLFP, it is not about charity but about how to help create a just, interdependent community. All are free to come and help themselves, help each other with the abundance of food and other things available — some people shared their great ideas, too — and spare Mother Earth the environmental burden of food waste."

Her premise? "Move it to other tables first!" Rudder said. "With the donations I had on Sunday, just calculating the water used to produce those foods — by moving them to other tables and not going to waste, we honored more than 3,000 minutes of water use and spared Mother Nature that waste. Over two days in the shower! And so, for me, this is another link in the circle, with compassionate action for both our human and environmental condition. I just love it."

The sharing, Rudder said, represents a generosity of spirit and a sense of gratitude.

"People really do want to come together and share their strengths and needs and feel a 'togetherness' about that. At least, that is the vibe so far. We are all each other's and Mother Earth's keeper," she said.

Rudder said she especially wants to help protect the seas and waterways, "the lifeblood of our communities here. By sharing our food abundance in this new way, more people are being fed, less is gone to waste and, at the end, more compost is created to help the soil, which helps the sea. It's a big, beautiful loop! Almost everything that sustains me in life, I learned from the sea. Now, it's my turn to help Her. I think in circles of interdependence."

Still ahead, Rudder is planning for a "Green Week" in April.

Reflecting on her vision, Rudder said: "I am one of those who 'gets out of the shower' with something I know I can help provide a solution for, and I get going on it. Everything I do fills a gap somewhere — and one action opens up to another. It is the openness of opportunity to help that inspires me to see what else we can create together. My list is long.

However, the real success of OLFP and the new Sharing Sundays, she said, "is because of the mirror I have held up to the community. They reflect back their goodwill, generosity and compassion — and they are all amazing."