Councilwoman Regina Lackey has converted the “little free library” in front of her southeast Manteca home into a mini-pantry to help those impacted by loss of CalFresh benefits due to the federal government shutdown.

Earlier this month, she replaced the books on the two shelves inside the house-shaped free lending library put in place years ago by TLC Real Estate, the firm she works for, with food staples such as canned soup, pasta mixtures, crackers and more.

It has been getting use.

TLC Real Estate has paid for groceries to fill it in  addition to Lackey using her family’s household funds.

But there are neighbors who are pitching in as well.

When she returned home from Tuesday’s council meeting, she noticed the lending library space was once again filled with food.

She at first thought it was with groceries she had left out for her kids to refill it with. Instead, it was restocked by a Good Samaritan.

“People want to help their neighbors,” Lackey said.

Lackey said it isn’t a lot, but added “every little bit helps.”

“There are people who own homes, who rent homes, and who are homeless that have lost SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits,” Lackey noted.

SNAP is the federal program that funds CalFresh in California.

It is not a new gesture for her family,

Lackey traded out books for food during the pandemic as well.

She is hoping others that can afford to do so might also consider temporarily converting their lending libraries to mini food pantries. And if they don’t have a little lending library, perhaps they could place food items out on a small table.

Lackey said it is important that neighbors look out for neighbors.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com