When The Power Went Out, This Block Fed Itself
After last summer's storm knocked out power for nine days, the residents of Maple Street turned their block into a neighborhood food pantry — and nobody went hungry.
When the storm hit on a Sunday and the power didn't come back for nine days, the residents of Maple Street did something remarkable: they refused to let anyone go hungry.
It started with one freezer. Mrs. Henderson at #214 had a generator. She invited her neighbors to bring whatever was in their thawing freezers and she'd keep it cold.
By Monday afternoon, the Hendersons' garage had become a community food pantry. By Tuesday, somebody had set up a propane camp stove. By Wednesday, there were three meals a day for the entire block, plus deliveries to the elderly residents who couldn't walk over.
"Nobody asked anybody to do this," said Marcus Lee, who organized the meal schedule. "It just happened. That's what neighbors do."
Nine days. Forty-seven households. Zero people hungry.
The unsung heroes are the ones whose names you don't know yet. They live next door.
