One of the dozen or so "little food pantries" scattered around Cambridge to help people struggling with food insecurity was the subject of a controversy that began last December and stretched into March.
Audrey and Nicholas Hill built a pantry on the edge of their front lawn in 2020 to help the homeless population near their Jarvis Street home.
When they found out from a city bylaw officer that a complaint had been made and the pantry was no longer welcome on their street, they were devastated.
The couple had never had any complaints until a neighbour called the city to say the box was bringing unwanted guests to the neighbourhood.
City staff informed the couple the pantry was not in compliance because it had been erected on the city's right of way and was impacting underground utilities.
"The amount of people that use this pantry is insane, it could be a full-time job just restocking it," Audrey Hill told CambridgeToday last December after applying to the city for an exemption to the bylaw.
By February, the couple admitted defeat, however, after being ordered to move or remove the pantry by March 31 of this year.
Read the full story and more HERE.
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