Widower keeps free senior citizen’s pantry up and running in honor of his late wife
By Josh Jackson
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TIFFANY SPRINGS, Missouri (KCTV, KSMO) — Kelsie Sams is homeless.
She depends on the Little Food Pantry near 49t h and Waukomis in Northmoor for several meals a week.
“Without it, I’d probably be dead,” Sams said. “I mean unless I just go out and rob somebody.”
The food storeroom started nearly two years ago when Ernie Martel decided to honor his wife after she died.
“I came up with the idea of the Little Food Pantry because my wife was always a person giving to Harvester’s, church donations, St. Jude’s, and Children’s Mercy Hospital,” Martel said.
The 88-year-olds solo project quickly grew.
It takes around $450 to keep the pantry fully stocked for the month.
So, Martel and friends set up a donation box where they reside at Tiffany Springs Senior Living Community.
He asked the 150 residents to donate just $1 a month to help.
“I figured if I get at least $150 that I would just make up the difference, but there’s people giving me $20,” Martel recalled. “I figured if you ask for a little, you get a lot. If you ask for a lot, you get a little.”
Several times a month, his friend John McCarthy, who’s 91 years old, drives him from the senior home to the grocery store and finally to the pantry to load up.
“And if he needs a little something done on the computer, I help him,” McCarthy added.
The giving is spreading like wildfire, and it’s just what Martel envisioned.
“So many people out here don’t have what others have,” said Sams.
“We’re paying back what was given to us,” Martel said. “There’s a lot of homeless people down there.”
In the last 15 months, Martel and volunteers have distributed over 10,000 pounds of food.
HyVee has even worked out a deal for them to get discounts on the groceries they purchase there.
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