Cedar Springs pantry serves neighbors like family

Editor’s note: This story was produced by a student at Cedar Springs High School as part of a collaboration with WOOD TV8.

CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. (WOOD) — A food pantry in Cedar Springs aims to be a home to anyone who is struggling.

Ian VanderLugt, a senior at Cedar Springs High School, recently visited the City Impact pantry as part of a collaborative project for his TV production class and WOOD TV8.

He found rows of volunteers at one of the “garage days” during which clients line up, pull their cars into the warehouse and wait as their trunks are loaded with fresh and nonperishable food.

“We’ve seen everyone from a single mom coming in for the first time, and she’s brought her neighbors or friends, and it turns into a family for them, and then they’ve even turned around and come back to volunteer,” ChrisAnn Lilly, one of the lead volunteers, told VanderLugt.

The pantry holds garage days regularly, typically on Thursdays. Lilly recalled one of those days when she was pulling up to volunteer and a woman knocked on her window.

“This grandma comes up and she says to me, ‘ChrisAnn, because of you, I can eat this month.’ And sometimes we don’t really understand how people are suffering so much that they’re willing to get out there and do as much as they can to have as much as they can,” Lilly said.

The woman Lilly was referring to died six months after that interaction.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Lilly said, adding, “I’ll tell you right now this place is just a part of my heart.”

The pantry will benefit from the WOOD TV8 Football Frenzy Tailgate Food Drive at Cedar Springs High School this week, but volunteers are always looking for donations.

“My praise and my hope and my joy would be that you look into your cupboards, any food items you are going to donate would be a gift and a gift to so many more,” Lilly said.

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