HOCKINSON — When she was younger, Anna Lee would regularly pepper her parents with questions from the backseat of the car.
“Can we stop?”
“Do we have snacks?”
While they’re questions parents might be used to hearing in the car from their 8-year-olds, Anna wanted her parents to stop the car so she could give her snacks to people out on the streets of Portland.
They started taking extra bottles of water and food to hand out to people. There were a lot of trips to Portland while Anna, now 13, was growing up. Three of her siblings have heart conditions, and all were treated at Oregon Health & Science University. Her siblings are doing better now, so there are fewer trips across the river.
Now Anna is looking to help people closer to her family’s Hockinson home. About a month ago, she officially opened Hockinson’s Little Pantry, a place where people can grab free hygiene items, toiletries, nonperishable food items and school supplies for those in need.
It works like a neighborhood free lending library. People can stop by and pick up what they need. So far, canned food and bags of food mix have been the most popular items. They’ve also learned some lessons, like don’t leave deodorant in a pantry when it’s hot out, or else you’ll be cleaning up some melted deodorant.
“For the last few years, I’ve had this feeling to give,” said Anna, who is enrolled in online school for eighth grade and plans on attending Hockinson High School next school year. “My older siblings worked at the (North Clark County) Food Bank in Battle Ground, and I saw how it helped people.”
Hockinson’s Little Pantry is located in the parking lot of Hockinson Community Church, 15918 N.E. 182nd Ave., Hockinson. Anna raised about $100 to start the pantry, which was built by Caleb Miller, the church’s youth pastor. Anna and her family check it six or seven times a week. To get the word out, she also went around to some local businesses and church congregations. Anna was nervous about public speaking, but agreed to do so after her mother told her it could really help the pantry.
“I was really nervous the first time I had to go speak to people,” Anna said. “It was a big energy drain. I had to tell myself I needed it to do it.”
There has been talk of adding a second pantry at some point, possibly near a trailer park in Battle Ground. So far, Anna is still working on getting the word out about the Hockinson pantry.
Anna thinks her upbringing is partially why she wants to help feed people. She is the third-youngest of Tanya and Mike Lee’s six kids, two of whom are biological. All the others, including Anna, are adopted. Anna was the first child the Lee family adopted. She was born in China near the China-Vietnam border, and was adopted when she was about 10 months old.
“I had food anxiety because of where I came from,” Anna said. “Now that I’ve got enough food, I can help everybody else.”
Tanya Lee said Anna is always checking to make sure the rest of the family ate. She also said Anna is regularly teaching her younger siblings.
“She’s working on something at all times,” Lee said. “It can be coming up with ideas for the pantry or for her chickens.”
Anna has 13 chickens, although one Lee described as a “part-time chicken,” as it tends to wander around, disappear and return home. When she has extra, she sells their eggs. She also likes going on hikes and used to ride horses.
“The amount of energy she has says something about her motivation,” Lee said. “When she has something she’s interested in, she goes after it.”
Anna is always looking out for projects she might want to replicate. She’s interested in finding a place looking to get rid of ugly produce and a way she can get that to people in need. To track projects she’s interested in, she started a Facebook page called Heart of Clay.
“It’s not something that’s hard and solid,” Anna said. “It’s moldable and able to change.”
