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Resident urges city to keep and restock community food box outside City Hall
Summary
A Warrenton resident told aldermen the small 'feed your neighbors' food box on city property has been empty for months and asked the city to allow other groups to stock it; staff said the city built the box and NECAC had agreed to refill it but the city does not itself stock the box.
During public comments at the Aug. 20 Warrenton Board meeting, resident Jane Kelly appealed to aldermen to preserve a small community food box located on city property between the police department and City Hall. Kelly said she regularly directs people to the box and that it had been empty for several months. She said she understood the box had been purchased with about $1,000 from a Community Development Block Grant and asked whether NECAC (referred to in the meeting) planned to remove it.
City staff responded that the city built the box but does not stock it; NECAC had an agreement to provide food. Staff expressed support for Kelly's effort to organize other community volunteers or groups to restock it and asked the health department to draft stocking guidelines. Board members raised no objections to Kelly organizing volunteers to maintain the box.
The remarks prompted suggestions from the public for alternative volunteers (for example, Saint Vincent de Paul) and an offer by a street outreach group to help. No formal motion or policy change resulted from the comment period.
