MONROE — In 2009 in Hudson, Wis., the first Little Free Library was built by Todd Bol. Over the following 16 years, more than 150,000 have sprung up across not just Wisconsin, but the world. The model is simple: A small box on a post holds books for kids and adults. People passing by can freely take a book — or leave a book. It celebrates the natural human drive to read and to learn.

“I really believe in a Little Free Library on every block and a book in every hand,” Bol said before his death in 2018, words featured prominently on the nonprofit’s website. “I believe people can fix their neighborhoods, fix their communities, develop systems of sharing, learn from each other, and see that they have a better place on this planet to live.”

Little Free Library, now a nonprofit organization, is headquartered out of Minneapolis, Minn.

Running with the idea in 2016, Jessica McClard created the first Little Free Pantry in Fayetteville, Ark. This time, instead of sharing books with neighbors, community members could share non-perishable personal care essentials and canned foods. People could take whatever they needed from the box, no questions asked.

Since that time, thousands more little free pantries have been built across the planet.

Locally, a group of local organizers and activists recently installed Little Free Pantries during the government shutdown in response to the threat of hundreds of local families losing government-funded SNAP benefits. More than 700,000 Wisconsinites use the FoodShare (SNAP) program in the state, about 12% of the population.

“Green County has the lowest unemployment rate in the entire state,” said Maxwell Brooks, one of the organizers. “Green County is also about average when it comes to SNAP. SNAP usage in this country is between two- to four-times higher than the unemployment rate, meaning the vast majority of SNAP users are not willingly unemployed. People are working their (butts) off and it’s just not enough.”

Brooks, a Monroe resident and a graduate of Juda High School this past spring, is a member of the Monroe 50501 chapter. The 50501 movement organized this past spring in response to grievances against President Donald Trump’s administration policies. The Monroe 50501 has more than 900 members on Facebook, and at multiple protests have collected donation items to give to various pantries and thrift stores in the area.

“(We want) to give back more, to contribute to the community, and to get people involved. Protest is great, but action is better. This is the first step in that initiative, and we hope to do more projects in the future,” Brooks said.

Initially expected to be a temporary help when the November FoodShare benefits were expected to be paused — before Gov. Tony Evers stepped in and had the state fill the void — organizers acknowledged the change was likely permanent.

“We realized that food insecurity is not going away anytime soon as grocery prices continue to rise relative to incomes,” Brooks said.

His church in Belvidere, Ill. had a Little Free Pantry, so Brooks thought “Why not Monroe?” Cathie Kwasneski and Garrett Wall stepped up to help the project. “Cathie built our first outdoor pantry, I built the indoor one for St. Vincent De Paul, whom Cathie reached out to in order to make this happen,” Brooks said.

Another location is inside in the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store on 4th Avenue West.

“When I approached the store manager at Habitat ReStore, Rebecca Anderson, she was incredibly willing to help out. Habitat has been a really great organization to work with,” said Brooks, who volunteers there on Fridays. “Rebecca told me that the store would cover the costs of their pantry, the store volunteers would build the pantry, and they’d hold a food drive later. They fulfilled those promises, the costs were covered and the pantry was built. It’s been wonderful.”

Both free pantries, indoors and outdoors, have positives and negatives. A benefit of the indoor pantries is that they don’t have to worry about products with water freezing in the winter, because indoor temperatures are controlled.

“Unfortunately, this means those indoor pantries can’t be 24/7,” Brooks said. “In the future, we look to insulate outdoor pantries so this isn’t a problem.”

Brooks said the larger food pantries in the area are great, but often have limited hours and the people that might need specific items might not have proper transportation.

“We hope that these are able to meet people where they are, when they can,” said Brooks.

The outdoor pantries, which organizers hope to have more of in the future, will be open 24/7 and consistently monitored to make sure that food is safe and secure. The end goal is to have one within reasonable walkability of most of Monroe, but they are starting with three.

“We’re focusing on the south and west sides of Monroe because those are the most underserved, several of these already exist on the northeast side of Monroe,” Brooks said.

Organizers are always looking for nonperishable food donations. Once operational, the pantries will operate on a “take what you need, leave what you can” basis, where donations can be left at the pantries themselves. The pantries will be checked every night to ensure that food is safe and secure, Brooks said.