CLIFFORD – A new community pantry and art piece are being installed downtown to help address local food insecurity.
The idea for a community pantry came after food security and accessibility were identified as areas needing “some work” during the township’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee said Caitlin Hall, a member of the committee and Minto Pride, which is participating in the initiative.
While food banks exist in Minto, Hall said a community food pantry is ideal because it acts as a safety net for those who rely on food banks, which can often only be used once a month, and is accessible to anyone, even those who don’t qualify for assistance.
“I think more recently than ever there’s a lot of people that are really living paycheck to paycheck,” said Hall. “It’s no secret that all costs are on the rise from rent, to grocery store prices so we’ve seen a lot of our people reaching out for extra help on community Facebook pages and at the food banks.”
The pantry will be installed at Clifford Rotary Celebration Square on Elora Street so it’s visible and accessible and will accept things like non-perishable food items and personal hygiene products said Hall.
Volunteers who can commit to occasionally monitoring the pantry for use and supplies are needed.
“The idea is having something accessible to anybody with the hope being anybody will feel free to use it,” said Hall. “If you’re in need of something, you’re welcome to take it and if you have extra of something, you’re welcome to leave it for somebody else.”
The decision to install a pantry wasn’t unanimous and a few community members “put up a fight” about it existing in Clifford which Hall said speaks to a bigger issue of residents’ understanding of food insecurity and what exists in their community.
“I think it’s easy to turn a blind eye or to have this not in my backyard approach, but the reality is, there’s lots of people that need a service like this,” said Hall. “There’s no indication that offering something like a free pantry is going to drive people to flock to Clifford to access that service. It’s more about supporting the people that are part of our community.”
A Norwell District Secondary School student was recently selected to create a public art piece on the pantry that represents the town of Minto’s characteristics while celebrating diversity and inclusion.
The DEI committee purchased the pantry and the Clifford Connects committee and Minto Pride will sponsor the art project, paying the artist and buying the materials.
It will be up to individuals to pop by and donate or share what they have but Hall said a service group has pledged money to operate the pantry and continue buying essentials for the first year.
A memorial plaque will also be installed at the pantry for Michael Martin, a committee member who championed the project but died in January before it was realized.
The pantry was originally proposed to be installed at the end of Martin’s driveway so he could keep tabs on it and ensure it wasn’t vandalized.
Hall said the hope is the pantry will be installed in mid-June and others are proposed in Harriston and Palmerston if the pilot pantry is successful.
The DEI committee plans to run community information sessions to answer any questions or concerns about the pantry closer to opening.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
