A new venture in a Muncie Public Library branch hopes to fill a gap in a food desert neighborhood on Muncie’s northeast side.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, those in the Whitely neighborhood can now visit Connection Corner and bring home fresh, donated food.

“I was driving here the other day and I was crossing Walnut.  And I realized there wasn’t one place to buy food anywhere on this side of Walnut.  Not a Village Pantry, not a mini-market of any kind, and no grocery store.  And especially now with Marsh leaving.”

That’s Jay Zimmerman with the Whitley Community Council.  As the director of the neighborhood’s food pantry – open once a month for only a few hours – he saw the need for more access to food, especially fresh produce.

Now the council is hosting a food box in Connection Corner, an all-tech branch of Muncie Public Library in Whitely, across the street from Longfellow Elementary.  Connection Corner Director Rebecca Parker says the supply of produce and shelf-stable food is open to everyone for all the hours the library is open.

“There is no barrier to entry whatsoever.  I will not ask any questions, I don’t ask for ID.  I will point you toward the food box and ask you to take everything that you need.”

The “food box” is actually two sets of wooden shelves.  On its second day of operation, it’s full of zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and beans donated from Minnetrista.  After its first day, Parker says she saw an immediate need.

“We had about 12 adults utilize it and we had about eight children take food home to their families.  Some people took one or two items.  Some people took an entire grocery bag full.  And we had enough that we were able to replenish throughout the day.  Our hope is that we will continue to have that supply and be able to meet the needs as they arise.  We have a number of different suppliers, so we really hope that whatever the need is, we can rise up to meet it.  But only time will tell on that.”

“We’re going to have as much produce as we can possible have,” says Zimmerman.  “That all depends on growing and this year we had all that rain at the beginning, so things got started late.  And I think probably the produce will go into the late fall.  And from some places – depending on who we can establish as partners – they have greenhouses in which they can grow food.  So we may be able to have produce year-round.”

On the shelves, there’s also bottled flavored water and healthy chips.  Parker says a lot of neighborhood kids spend their afternoons at the library and she wants them to have access to healthy afterschool snacks.  She says the kids were curious about the food… but not everything was a hit.

“The kids all tried nasturtium yesterday.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a decorative flower, but the leaves are edible and they’re kind of spicy.  Minnetrista dropped it off and the kids were kind of checking out the food box.  And they were like, ‘Can we eat something off of here?’  And I said, ‘Well, a lot of stuff you would want to cook first, but these are greens.  Do you want to try the greens?’  And they took a bite of the nasturtium, and all of them just kind of stuck their tongues out,” Parker laughs.  “’Do we have to eat the rest?’”

Muncie Public Library Director Akilah Nosakhere says the new food box fits with what Muncie Public Library is trying to do for the community.

“The library’s always been a community-based service when it came to information and we’ve always been grassroots-based.  We’re seeing a need as a library system and we’re trying to fill it.  And we’re working with other organizations to fill that need of food security.  Because, yes, I live in Whitely.  And I know there are no grocery stores nearby.  And it’s just totally unacceptable.”

Zimmerman says an Ohio farm with a mobile market will also offer food for sale in Whitely on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  And the community council is now looking for more community partners and donations to keep the library food box full.