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Hackensack high school senior seeks city support to install mini food pantries
Summary
Girl Scout Gold Award candidate Sylvia Brown asked the Hackensack City Committee of the Whole for locations and community help to install at least two mini food pantries to address local food insecurity.
Sylvia Brown, a Hackensack High School senior and Girl Scout Gold Award candidate, asked the Hackensack City Committee of the Whole to help place and support at least two mini food pantries to address local food insecurity.
Brown said the Gold Award requires a “long term, long lasting community project with at least 80 hours of work” and described her project as “addressing and decreasing food insecurity in the city of Hackensack by installing at least 2 mini food pantries.”
She told council members the pantries would provide immediate access to food when regular pantries are closed and would offer an option for people who want to avoid traditional food pantries. “Mini food pantries will offer immediate access to needed food when regular pantries are closed and will be a resource for those who want to avoid traditional food pantries, giving can access and necessaries without fear and with dignity,” Brown said.
Brown described how the pantries would operate: “Take what you need. Open access, no questions asked. Trust that the pantry will be refilled and there when you need it. It's built on community care and respect. You can also give what you can.” She asked the city to consider potential locations including city hall, the M And M Building, a Main Street or Summit Street firehouse, libraries, houses of worship or private front yards, and invited groups to “adopt a little pantry” to check and maintain it.
Brown identified an advisory team supporting the project, naming Petra Del Vecchio (her lead advisor), Rich Del Vecchio (Hackensack High School director of science), Gary Hipp (president of the Hackensack Rotary Club), Ted Mallon (teacher), Karen Sasso (former mayor of Hackensack) and Gary Terrazano (vice president, Garden Club of Hackensack). She closed by asking the committee for support in site selection, maintenance volunteers and materials donations.
The presentation concluded without a formal vote; council members acknowledged Brown and moved to the next agenda item.
