KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva learned about the following stories in a Liberty Facebook group where she asked for community insight — the goal was to learn about businesses and individuals stepping up to make sure families on SNAP benefits have food on their plates, as the future is uncertain. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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Community members across the Kansas City area are converting their spaces into food distribution points as concerns grow about families facing food insecurity.
Malaya Dutton woke up with a mission to “spread a little kindness.”
She emptied the little free library her family built two years ago to share books with the community and filled it with food instead.
“It breaks my heart,” Dutton said, about the possibility of families losing their SNAP benefits. “I know my kids come home from school hungry. And I hate thinking that other kids are going to get home and not have something to eat.”
With a similar mindset, a tattoo shop located less than two miles from her house is also putting its bookshelves to a different use.
“You gotta feed the mind, but people gotta be alive,” said Noah Holtman, tattoo artist at The Bulletproof Tiger Social Club.
The shop started a food pantry and free library during the pandemic. This week, they decided to expand the shelves offering food.
“We have all the books over here. We’ve taken most of them out, leaving a few because we really want to get more food in,” Holtman said.
He knows a tattoo shop isn’t the first place you’d expect to find free food, but they’re determined to leave a mark that reaches deeper than the skin.
“You really have to make sure people have eaten. It’s just not that complicated,” Holtman said.
That same sentiment is shared by hairdresser Ruby Von Blush, who turned her salon into a drop-off location for food donations. From there, she distributes them to local pantries.
“It was about creating an opportunity for people to get involved, with love at the core,” Von Blush said. “It just takes someone willing to start the process to make it easy for others. So that’s what we’re doing.”
She plans to build a larger food pantry at her business by the end of the year.
Their hope is to create an impact that lasts beyond ink.
“It was needed last week. It will be needed the week after those come back out. And we need more,” Holtman said.
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