The Blue Cabinets: food sharing is caring

Every week since the pandemic hit Tompkins County back in March 2020, Beth Hogan and her husband, John Callister, have spent their Sunday mornings stocking the Blue Food Sharing Cabinets around Lansing.

“Well, when COVID hit and we weren’t going to church — we’re parishioners at All Saints Church — we decided that on Sunday mornings, we could do something for the community that we didn’t have to have contact with people,” Hogan said. “And we found out about the blue cabinets not long after COVID started. And we checked out the three that we heard about in Lansing, and we thought this is perfect.”

And after over a year and a half of their Sunday ritual, the pair are a well-oiled machine when it comes to purchasing goods and delivering them.

“We’ve pretty much got it down,” Hogan said. “We like to do at least two of everything and sometimes three or four, like coffee. Coffee is expensive, and it’s a luxury. And so, we found Aldi had Bustelo — bags of ground Bustelo coffee. And so, we were doing that with a can of evaporated milk, so that people can make coffee and have milk to put in their coffee, and also the milk would work with the mac and cheese. … We started figuring out all kinds of different ways we could put things in there that were not necessarily the healthiest thing, but at least it was going to fill a hungry belly. And we were always thinking in terms of kids and what kids would eat.”

There are three Blue Food Sharing Cabinets, operated through Mutual Aid Tompkins, within the Lansing Central School District, located at All Saints Church, 347 Ridge Rd.; Lansing Town Hall, 29 Auburn Rd.; and 510 Asbury Rd., where it meets Scofield Road in Freeville.

Lansing residents Valerie McMillen and her grandchildren Bristol, 6, and River, 3, spent the summer filling the cabinets with vegetables fresh from the garden and continue to stock them with other goods.

“We started taking bags of stuff out there, we just open the door, and they rearrange the cabinet and put all the things in order,” McMillen said. “And they just love doing that. And they know the whole reason behind it. And of course, the 3-year-old is a little hard to understand that stuff, but he loves giving stuff, and he’s very generous as well. So it’s just really fun to take them up and watch them do that and fill the cabinets.”

According to Feeding America’s “Map the Meal Gap” study, in Tompkins County in 2018, there were 10,720 food insecure people — 10.4% of the population (tinyurl.com/fjrhyp6r). That number only increased when the pandemic hit and unemployment skyrocketed. Feeding America estimates that nationally, 45 million people (1 in 7) — including 15 million children (1 in 5) — may have experienced food insecurity in 2020 (tinyurl.com/33rur4ke).

Hogan shared what she has witnessed locally regarding hunger.

“It’s a big problem in our community, and you might not see it, but I’ve seen it,” Hogan said. “I’ve ran the soup kitchen down at Loaves and Fishes. I did that for two years, three times a week during the lunch. And the folks that came through there, some of the neediest folks in Ithaca, in Tompkins County. A lot of people look the other way, and a lot of people just don’t realize. They just don’t know. … This is for real. This is really happening in our affluent community here in little Ithaca, New York. There’s people that don’t have food for their kids or to put on the table for the families.”

And within the numbers, it is important to recognize that major disparities exist for people of color. In 2019, nationally, 1 in 4 Indigenous individuals, 1 in 5 Black individuals and 1 in 6 Latinx individuals lived in food-insecure households, compared to 1 in 12 white, non-Hispanic individuals, according to Feeding America.

Hogan explained why she and Callister continue to stock the cabinets.

“[We do this] just to be kind and help other people,” she said. “We’re really lucky, me and my husband, very, very fortunate. And we’ve been very fortunate in our life. And there was a time in both of our lives that we were hungry. And so we know.”

With the freezing temperatures upon us, Hogan and McMillen caution stockers to please not put canned goods or any glass in the cabinets as they can explode and cause a major mess!

Instead, she advises leaving cheese, hot dogs, eggs, bread, pasta, cereal, coffee, peanut butter, crackers, tortillas, beans, deli meat, sugar in sealed storage bags, menstrual products, deodorant, baking soda and other items that can survive the frost and cooler temperatures. Hogan also reminds stockers to only donate new, unused food items.

“It’s just a constant reminder to people, be mindful, respectful and be caring about people,” she said. “You’re doing this because you want to help someone. You don’t want to make their life harder. And when they go to a cabinet, [and] it’s full of past-date food, it’s just disrespectful.”

With the pressures brought on by the holiday season and cold winter temperatures, McMillen expressed the importance of keeping the cabinets stocked and what doing so has taught her grandchildren.

“I know that they learned to share,” McMillen said “And they’ve learned that there are people that don’t have a lot of things. And they have a lot of compassion for other people. … It’s just really fun to do, and lesson or no lesson, people need that. So, as long as I’m able to help give, that’s what we do.”

Hogan emphasized the importance of continuing to help others in the community in whatever ways possible.

“Don’t take anything for granted and be kind and help others whenever you can because you just never know the world is changing so fast, especially with COVID,” Hogan said. “I worry so much about how much the world will change. And when people have something that they can do to help others. I think that’s always a priority. Always a priority.”

For a list of the Food Sharing Cabinets in the county, visit mutualaidtompkins.com/food-sharing/locations. For updates, join the Mutual Aid Food Sharing Cabinets Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/2602977416468789/.

Lansing at Large is published every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.