Food security efforts in eastern UP are for the community by the community - Feeding America West Michigan

Food security efforts in eastern UP are for the community by the community

• By Ashley Randolph
Cedar Post Pantry volunteer stands in pantry space holding frozen meat and a bottle of juice.
Cedar Post Pantry volunteer stands in pantry space holding frozen meat and a bottle of juice.
Volunteer Kristin said the Cedar Post Pantry in Cedarville wouldn’t be possible without support from local donors.

Cedar Post Pantry in Cedarville is one of many great examples of the ways hunger-relief efforts support and are supported by small communities through diligence and resourcefulness. 

The Cedarville pantry, which serves approximately 120 families a month, functions with the support of revenue from the Cedar Post Thrift Shop, which is in the same building as the pantry. The thrift store runs on trust and donations. When people select items at the thrift store, they can offer a donation for the items, and those funds go directly to the pantry.  

Pantry vice president Kristin said the pantry wouldn’t be possible without organizations like the Herrick Foundation, Lex Cheneaux Community Foundation, and local businesses like Cedarville Foods.  

Recently, the Herrick Foundation provided funds for Cedar Post to repaint the building exterior. Les Cheneaux Community Foundation is a reliable source of operating support. Local grocer Cedarville Foods supports the pantry with monetary donations and with $10 vouchers. Cedar Post offers those vouchers to households plus an additional voucher to help pantry visitors get fresh fruits and vegetables. The pantry currently does not have the capacity to store fresh produce. 

The significance of the efforts of everyday community members at large cannot be overstated. After all, the funds by which the pantry operates exist because of the products they donate to the thrift store and the money donated when they select items from the store.  

Kristen, a Drummond Island resident who has been with Cedar Post for three years, stressed the importance of the thrift store and pantry and its support in their community. She started volunteering in an effort to widen her world and eventually became a trustee and vice president. 

“Our regulars really depend on Cedar Post for food and for reasonably priced clothing,” she said. “There are people I know who come in and buy clothes, just so they don’t have to go to the laundromat and pay to wash them. That’s just how desperate some people are. I’m just happy that we can be here to help.”