Every great movement, every impactful event, has occurred out of a place of pain, of crisis. Think of Terry Fox and his decision, despite his cancer diagnosis, to run across the country and raise awareness. Out of his sacrifice, greatness has come. Funds have been raised, awareness has abounded and some cancers are curable. All thanks to one courageous man with one courageous decision.

So too is the story of the birth of The People’s Pantry. It’s a story that begins in a moment of extreme crisis and pain. A moment of destitution and hunger. But a moment when one singular person made one choice out of sheer desperation.

That moment occurred when one woman with a 9 month old baby and three other children of varying ages, walked into her husbands den and found him in a state of overdose. To what she did not know, but the minutes and knowledge that followed, as grisly and grotesque as it was, became the birthing of the People’s Pantry.

What followed can only be described as a synergy of events. The man went into hospital from there into a recovery home. We would like to say that from this point on all is well that ends well, but that was not to be the fate of this family. However, it was through this that connections were made and an event that should have been the undoing became one of blessing.

This mother was now in crisis. She was faced with four children to feed, one but an infant, and a husband that was in recovery, lucky to have his life let alone anything else. Barely able to manage rent, she often faced the choice between shelter and food. However, through the recovery home, she was able to access bread. Bread that the recovery home had in abundance, and was more than willing to give to her instead of direct it to a landfill. Bread from Cobs Bread.

Every Thursday at 7 pm, this mother would drive to the recovery home where she would pick up three to five garbage sized bags of bread. She would bring them home and, with the three older children would together juggle attending to the baby and bagging the bread into individual bags. Very quickly, she realized that there was far more bread than she and hers could consume. This mother was connected to a network of other single mothers who also struggled with the same issue: shelter or food? And so began the “Bread Program!”

Realizing that she had an abundance, this mother decided to share the wealth. Four times a month, her and her children would gather together, pick up the bread, and then package it into individual bags. And four times a month, she would fill her trunk and go to two different, preset locations, open her trunk and stay there for an hour or two, so other single mothers could access the bread she was blessed to be able to receive. One moment of hungry desperation. One singular decision. One non-profit society. One great movement.