By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Ortonville-‘Take what you need, leave what you can’ is the slogan of the national movement titled the ‘Little Free Pantry’ and now there is one located in Ortonville.
“There was a person in the community named Monica Andrews who saw something like that in Clarkston, and put a picture on Facebook and said something like ‘we need something like this here’ and it just kind of went from there,” said Leanne Claxton, who helped orchestrate the free pantry. “They tagged me to see if my girl scouts would like to do it, and within an hour we had a plan.”
Claxton and her Girl Scout Troop number 70649 made the plan in January, and within a day Faye Bindig of the Edna Burton Senior Center offered a location and Brandon Township Supervisor Jayson Rumball offered to provide the initial stock of food.

“My husband was the mastermind behind it all, he designed the thing, Miller Design Building Company donated all the materials, except the glass which was donated by Wally at Brandon Glass, he fitted the doors and set the glass,” said Claxton. “It seems like everyone is really excited about the idea of having it.”
The pantry, which is outside the Edna Burton Senior Center, is a little cabinet on a post that has non-perishable food items. Anyone can take something they need, or leave something they don’t need. The name of the pantry is the Blessing Box.
“If you need something, go see if they have it there, and the hope is you leave something if you can,” said Claxton.
To see other free pantries in the area, visit littlefreepantry.org.