Bards Against Hunger

Woodbury Poet Laureate Katie Baker and

Orenaug Mountain Publishing Team to Host

Bards Against Hunger for St. Paul's Episcopal Church

The little free pantry in front of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 294 Main Street South, Woodbury, has become a key source of food for some area residents.  To support this vital resource the church provides, Woodbury Poet Laureate Katie Baker and Orenaug Mountain Publishing are hosting a Bards Against Hunger poetry open mic on Tuesday, November 11, at 6 p.m. Readers and their guests are invited to bring non-perishable food donations to help stock the cabinet.

“The food pantry has become an amazing outreach mission. Run in cooperation with the Woodbury Food Bank, it is available anytime of the day or night,” said long-time church member Betty Lou Bowles, who along with her husband, Peter, frequently refills the cabinet. “Parishioners restock the pantry several times a week, so the Bards Against Hunger event will be a great help. Getting together for a poetry open mic is fun in itself, but combining that with support for an initiative like the little free pantry makes it that much more special.”

Among the items needed, are many of the most popular, including whole grain cereals, sugar free jam or jelly, instant oatmeal packets, canned tuna, spam, chicken, and other meats, canned vegetables, including low sodium and all kinds of beans, flavored rice and pasta packets, ramen noodles, juice boxes and bottles.

Baker, who hosts a monthly open mic at Woodbury Public Library on the second Wednesday of the month, said, “People don’t have to bring a donation in order to participate as a reader, but we’re hoping everyone does. We changed the library’s open mic to Tuesday for November, deciding to host the event at the church so the donations will be right where they need to be at the end of the night.”  

The theme for the month is heritage. Participants will have about five minutes each to read. Poets do not have to stick to the theme, but a food donation is required to participate in the open mic.

“Poetry brings people together and builds community because we come face to face with others’ humanity through our words,” said Sandy Lee Carlson, poet laureate emerita of Woodbury and a managing partner at Orenaug Mountain Publishing. “Bards Against Hunger is a great way for us as a company, and for area poets, to lend a hand to those in our community who could use a bit of a boost.”