Sonoma welcomes new Little Free Pantry

Jensen Hedley’s senior project makes Springs resource a reality|

Sonoma Valley High School student Jensen Hedley heard about the Little Free Pantry concept on Facebook and decided for her senior project, to bring the concept to Sonoma. St. Andrew Presbyterian Church donated money for the wood and woodshop teacher Drew Jacobs helped her with the construction. Other friends and family stepped forward to help with trim work and painting, and her senior project advisor, former Mayor Laurie Gallian, suggested that the Springs Community Hall on Sonoma Highway might be the perfect spot for it.

Jensen had to present her idea to the board of the Springs Community Hall to get their blessing to install the pantry on its grounds.

The pantry went up on May 6 and it will remain in place as part of a test program through May 17, the day of Hedley’s senior project presentation at SVHS.

Inside, there are non-perishable foods for anyone to take freely what they need and anyone to donate.

“If it is a success, it will continue (after senior projects),” said Hedley. “I have confidence that the community will support it and continue to drop off donations and keep it stocked.”

Jensen’s senior research paper tackles the topic of homelessness – how it occurs and ways to improve the situation in the U.S. and other countries.

Up next for Hedley is preparing for her freshman year at U.C. Davis, where she hopes to major in communications and minor in business.

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