Gordon’s Little Free Pantry, located just south of 70th Street on Greenwood Avenue, offers a place for Phinneywood neighbors to support each other by sharing food. The site has both a large cupboard for dry pantry goods and a Seattle Community Fridge for cold/fresh items. This pantry is well utilized due to its location on a busy street (right next to a bus stop on the west side of Greenwood Avenue, south of 70th) and 24/7 accessibility.
A team from Woodland Park Presbyterian Church checks the pantry every day and restocks it whenever possible. The church maintains a small budget to buy groceries for the pantry, but many other generous neighbors contribute food to meet the community’s needs, including the Seattle Community Fridge team and several local businesses.
The pantry, now in its sixth year of operation, is named after Gordon Merritt, who was a lifelong member of WPPC and resident of the area. Feeding the hungry was a particular passion of Gordon’s, so the WPPC community chose to name the pantry in his honor after he passed away in 2022.
Right now, with local layoffs, the federal government shutdown, and the uncertainty of programs like SNAP benefits, the need for food is particularly great. The little free pantry’s shelves are often empty within a few hours of being filled. The pantry team welcomes food donations directly to the pantry as well as financial donations (a link is below).
The little free pantry team asks that food donations be unopened and unexpired: food that you would be willing to take from the pantry to eat yourself. Some ideas for donations include dried fruit, granola bars, snack crackers, tuna/canned protein, canned soup/chili, and personal care items like deodorant or toothpaste.
Link for financial donations here (choose “Food Pantry” from the dropdown menu).
