North End Free Pantry closes in St. Paul

The North End Free Pantry has decided to shut down following a number of issues they have been facing, including not being able to stay stocked.

The pantry can no longer be found at its known location, as the organization says it has been moved and will not be reopening due to a lack of funds.

The group also said part of the issue stemmed from people outside of the community taking food, sometimes driving or biking from across the city to take the food — ultimately defeating the purpose of their community pantry.

“We’ve lived here for nearly 20 years and the people utilizing the pantry are not from the immediate area,” the organization said in a statement. “That’s not what the pantry is intended for. This is a neighborhood pantry, not a food shelf.”

North End Free Pantry said the biggest reason for their closure was the lack of donations. In a Facebook post from Feb. 14, the pantry said they were considering closing down after they had only received one donation in two weeks.

“Even though we tried, we cannot keep the pantry stocked when people take multiple bags or come two or three times a day after we post here that we’ve restocked,” the group said. “We tried to keep up with the demand, even monetized the (Facebook) page to try to cover the cost of purchasing more food and heating the pantry. But received no donations.”

The organization says they are open to the idea of others running the pantry and ask that those interested message them directly on Facebook within the next 6 days.