After 40 years as a nurse, mother, and caring wife, Jane Merrow leapt into an entirely new world - running a food pantry - reminding us that change is possible at any age, and that we don't have to travel far and wide to do it. (Or, in Jane's case, beyond the same street she grew up on!) Today in Ep. 29, we’ll hear how Jane:
To learn more about the Newbury Food Pantry's incredible work, visit their website at https://www.newburyfoodpantry.org/get-food, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
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Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
*ACCESSIBILITY: Transcripts are available for each episode here. (Just click your episode of choice, and then click the "transcript" tab! And if you have any issues at all don't hesitate to reach out.)
After 40 years as a nurse, mother, and caring wife, Jane Merrow leapt into an entirely new world - running a food pantry - reminding us that change is possible at any age, and that we don't have to travel far and wide to do it. (Or, in Jane's case, beyond the same street she grew up on!) Today in Ep. 29, we’ll hear how Jane:
To learn more about the Newbury Food Pantry's incredible work, visit their website at https://www.newburyfoodpantry.org/get-food, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
***
Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
*ACCESSIBILITY: Transcripts are available for each episode here. (Just click your episode of choice, and then click the "transcript" tab! And if you have any issues at all don't hesitate to reach out.)
29 - Jane Merrow
Jane Merrow: [00:00:00] And I, at that point said, I just, I can't do this anymore. just give it to them,
I just, I didn't think I could do, anything anymore. And then, I don't know, guess, I guess, shook my head and, after a week or so I thought, you know what? we can do this.
Life Leaps Podcast: welcome to Life Leaps Podcast. Hear inspiring stories of ordinary people who made extraordinary life changes. What drove them, what almost held them back. Insights for the rest of us considering life leaps big or small, because hearing someone else do it reminds us that we can too.
Happy Wednesday, everyone today. We're with Jane Merrow who? After 40 years as a nurse mother and caring wife. Lept into an entirely new venture, running a food pantry. And whose story reminds us that we can leap at any age and without going too far from home.
Today, we'll hear how Jane. Number one. Got the idea in the first place. Hint, it involves a few chance encounters over the years, which so many of [00:01:00] us have, and don't always realize what they can later become.
To made it into a reality and an extraordinarily successful, innovative, impactful one. Three was put to the test and extremely difficult circumstances and almost decided to quit, but didn't, and in the end it saved her.
Life Leaps Podcast: I'm a farmer's daughter. I'm the oldest of seven, children, and I live, on the same street that, I grew up on.
Jane Merrow: where did you grow up? Newbury, Massachusetts in a little town right next to the ocean.
Life Leaps Podcast: as a child, my, my dad was a, a dairy farmer and a hay farmer, and, and then ended up being more just the hay, the salt hay, the mahe, and.
Jane Merrow: And, and I helped, I was the oldest, so I drove tractors and trucks and things like that and helped with the, the bales of hay and loved the animals. Had a horse growing up when I was in seventh grade, which was just a dream, a backyard horse, a freebie. Wow. And, um, yeah, I've always been, a member of [00:02:00] the same church, which is just a mile down the street.
And I think I had a great childhood. It's nice to be in the country and, and now I live, yeah, I live, right next door to the farm where I grew up. Wow. Which is really cool. Yeah.
Life Leaps Podcast: do you have a farm now or are you, I think you mentioned earlier you had chickens.
Jane Merrow: I have, yeah, I've got 11 chickens out in the backyard.
I have a very big vegetable garden that's actually part of the farm. my, my family farm and I live right next door to it, which was wonderful. I was able to buy a house right next door to the farm,
Life Leaps Podcast: Wow. And at some point you meet your husband at some point, you have some kids. I just saw one on the screen a little earlier, helping us get set up for technical problem shooting,
Jane Merrow: right?
I, went to, nursing school in, in Havehill, Northern Essex. It was a community college and and I got my rn and during that time I met my husband who. Ended up, renting a house. His folks rented a house down the street, John. And, we [00:03:00] married, a couple months after I graduated from college.
And, I worked for a couple years as a nurse and then we had three wonderful children. I have a daughter, Amy, and then two sons, John and Noah. And, and luckily they all live in Massachusetts right now, which is wonderful. So I get to see them, a lot. And, after the, after seven years at home with kids, I went back to work again as a nurse and, worked as a supervisor for a while and then became a director of nurses for about 18 years.
And then, and then, changed, a bit to being an assessment nurse, which I did for about the last 19 or 20 years of my nursing career.
I love people, love talking with the patients, always and loved the people I worked with. it was, it was a good career, a really good career.
Life Leaps Podcast: So you, okay, so you did that for like over 20 years in the nursing world, and you said it was, is it Newberry where you live now?
Jane Merrow: I live in Newbury.
So I basically worked as a nurse [00:04:00] for, about 40 years. 40 years,
Life Leaps Podcast: okay. 40 years. I'm glad you corrected my math. Yeah. Okay. I'll love it.
Jane Merrow: That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And, wow. Okay. Yeah. I loved every minute of them.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. Wow. And at some point along the way, you and I had a brief chat before we did this interview earlier this week, and, so I know that somewhere along the way,a major event happened in your life with your husband's health that sort of changed everything, for your whole family and, but certainly for you.
Jane Merrow: my husband, had. Had dementia, which was coming on slowly. And then it got to the point that, I had to cut back my hours at work and then, then to the point that I had to retire. So I've been retired for about three years, and, from when I retired until he passed, was only about a six month period.
And I had started a food pantry, through our church, about five years before that, in, 2015. And my husband helped me with that. we'd go and pick up loads of food and bring it [00:05:00] around. And he, was doing little chores with me. So he was,my sidekick there.
And then, I had to step back a bit from working the pantry to be with him. more and more at home. And so I retired and, didn't want to, but now I don't know how I ever worked and did the other things that I did at the same time.
Life Leaps Podcast: at one point, Jane, you were both working as a nurse Yes.
And caring for your husband and running this food pantry on the side.
Jane Merrow: We, when we started, we only had one guest coming and then. It, through word of mouth and putting flyers out. it built up to more and more, so it was something that was just open on Friday and it was a hundred percent volunteer.
No one got paid and just, and I didn't schedule people to come in or anything. It was whatever we could get. And slowly it went from a little library, food pantry, and then, it was at the church and On Fridays, we'd basically take over the church and people would come and sit [00:06:00] down and wait for their turn to shop.
We had, a few freezers and refrigerators as time went on and we put the food in the coolers and people would get their chance to shop with little tiny shopping carts. And we had, we had four musicians, three pianists and and o and auto hops. And, we, so everybody got live music while they were waiting to do their shopping.
And, and then when the pandemic hit in, 2020, March, we went from serving 150 people to 300 people overnight. people were, outta work and teachers were scrambling and. So we had some more volunteers at that point, but and that was about the same time my husband got really ill and needed more attention.
we went from people coming and shopping by themselves to, having them drive up and fill out a slip and then gradually turned over to online shopping and, have perfected that, throughout the years and, and now.[00:07:00] we've served the last two weeks, 580 people, so it has just continued to grow and grow.
I don't see it cutting back and still it's, a hundred percent volunteer and 95% of every dollar that goes to the pantry is used to buy food and personal care items.
Life Leaps Podcast: Jane, how did you first get. The idea to become involved in a food pantry. I know this was something that evolved for you. it started as a small thing you did on the side.
yeah.
Jane Merrow: Yes. Years ago our church would, help out at the Salvation Army once a month, with a meal program. And one day when I was there, serving the meal, I noticed that there was this couple that came in the back door and they were filling out an application to use the Salvation Army's Food program.
And, They were so embarrassed to be there, and I'd offered them coffee or something to eat and no. They wanted to disappear and the woman had scrubs on, so she was doing something in the nursing field. I don't know what, but they needed a little extra help. and I always felt so bad and I always said, oh [00:08:00] my gosh, if I ever had the chance, I would never make someone fill out applications and things like that to be feeling.
so small. And then, in, 2011. there was a small food pantry and a local church, and the church had closed and, and the building was sold, so they were looking for someone to take over their little pantry. That served about eight people a week, and so I, we presented that to the church and, We didn't have enough room.
We didn't have room. And I said, what about that little library we have up there? We could use that. So we started with that and that's when we had one guest coming. We had three volunteers and one guest that would come for the week and gotta start somewhere. Yeah. So
the co-founder of this little pantry and myself would go out and we would buy food at the grocery store, would take a turn. One would buy food one week and one the next. Just using our own money to get it off the ground. And then slowly people found out what we were doing and,some, the local banks helped us out.
and then it just, it was just like a tiny little seed, like the little mustard seeds. [00:09:00] Story from the Bible and it just flourished from there. And then, yeah, we had a local group called would bring in fresh produce that they were growing themselves and now they're more a dispatcher for food.
But, so that people could get, fresh produce, not just, macaroni and cheese and a box on a shelf and the can of spaghetti sauce. We, tried to be innovative and have as many things possible as we could,
Life Leaps Podcast: but Jane. So it sounds like, so 2011 you said, was when it first came up that there was this small group needing someone
to help take over their food pantry, when was it that you first saw. The woman in man, the woman in scrubs who had been filling out forms and you just thought, that's
Jane Merrow: not how I would do it. that was before, that was a couple years before that, that the food pantry, was looking for another home, if you would.
And and I just remember that, and I always thought I would want it to be, if I ran a pantry, I would want it to be like, cheers. everybody knows your name and everybody's comfortable cuz we're all just people. And that's [00:10:00] how we ran it. And we still to this day, people don't have to fill out a whole lot of applications.
We never ask for a license. We don't ask them to prove financial need. If they say they need food, then we give them food. And, that's how we've maintained it. And, and if they don't wanna give their real name, then that's okay because it's really hard when people have to go to a food pantry, especially to get started.
Once they're there and they see us and they feel comfortable, then. It's, a whole new story, but it's really, it's very difficult for people to accept and it's usually the people that need it the most that would wanna take the least. So just to make them feel comfortable and
Life Leaps Podcast: what, I know I keep taking you back. What was it that, because at the time that this comes up, Jane, you've got. Your work, right? Like you're a full-time nurse, you've got three children.
your children are grown. and at that point, you've got, had your husband started needing care at that point,
Jane Merrow: yeah. I was managing as best I could. My, youngest son [00:11:00] lives next door at the family farm and, so he was like my backup, you know, if ever I needed some assistance, then he could come and help me with that. But, Yeah. No, it was just a juggling act. It was a juggling act.
Life Leaps Podcast: What is going through your mind?
And The reason I keep feeling back is because that moment when someone decides to try something new, to try something different, to add to an already full plate, what was it in you that you think pushed you or drove you or just, you know, allowed you to do that?
Jane Merrow: it was just, It just seemed like the right thing to do.
I wanted to be able to help people. My mother, as the farmer's wife always would, get up early in the morning and she'd bake all these, zucchini breads or apple pies and she'd give them to the first hay customers that came, and it was like, I guess kind of carrying on in her name too was just, if I can, provide food to people that might need a little bit extra.
And, it's just the need was there. And I thought, this would be a really a cool thing. I had taken care of both of my parents until they passed away. I had [00:12:00] taken care of my elderly aunt and and my aunt had passed away in August, and here, this was November. That, that this opportunity presented itself and I was looking for a new challenge.
I always like to just be busy and just do things. yeah, that okay. The time was right. I like the ownership. and I being the oldest child, you have a bossy personality, a tape charge personality. And all the years of being a director of nurses, the buck stops here.
That responsibility, lays heavy. And I was just up for that challenge And,
Life Leaps Podcast: Jane, if I, if I'm not doing the right thing with this interview and you feel like you need to take charge or boss, I'll take it. You seem like someone who could handle it. okay. Okay. So the timing was right.
You had been taking care of others and, and a and a space opened in your life when your aunt passed, it sounds like, and right. It just felt right. Okay.
Jane Merrow: oh, Oh, I have something else to tell you. When my, when I was taking care of my aunt, it [00:13:00] got that she lived across the street
but she was needing more and more assistance and I. And I was at a laundromat. I was washing the dog's dog bed. And I was there and this woman came in and she was eating a salad. She was sitting down eating a salad and I guess she worked at the laundromat mat like a couple hours a week.
And she said, I'm so blessed to be able to have a place to have my lunch. And I'm so blessed because they'll let me change my clothes here. And so I was just talking with her cuz she was a chatty woman and. She was, she was, had to put on her Salvation Army clothes because she was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army.
and she was living in her car. And I had never admitted anyone before who lived in their color. And, and she was couch surfing between the car and, so I thought about that and I called my sister who lived in, in, North Carolina and she said, you know what, that might be the perfect person to live with Aunt Betty for a while.
just to stay with her cuz you know, we had to keep going over in the middle of the night, and everything. And so I went back to the [00:14:00] laundromat the next day and asked who this person was and how I could. Get ahold of her. And so I left my number and for her to call me, and then I set up an interview and she came to my aunt's house and we both interviewed her and she ended up staying with my aunt for a year and a half.
And so, wow. That was another, that was another driving force to, to go with this food pantry thing was because I'd never really knew anyone who was homeless or in that kind of a situation before. And, So yeah. There, here you go. I hadn't thought about that for a long time. Wow. Yeah, that's, so she stayed with my aunt, how it really, it was 18 months that she stayed there and, she wasn't perfect.
But you know what? Neither am I, but it was someone to have in the house, someone to keep my aunt company. And, yeah, I hadn't thought about her for a while, but yeah, there was the driving force.
Life Leaps Podcast: Jane, you just met someone in a laundromat who seemed like they were in a tough time, but like a [00:15:00] reliable, good, trustworthy enough person that you were like, there could be a space we'd have for her in our lives and yeah.
And meet a need for both of us. And she cared for your aunt for a year and a half.
Jane Merrow: she didn't do physical care. She did it like she was there night, get little things. She was there to have someone in the house. And so that was a win-win. She got to have,to live in. She had her own little bedroom.
She had a shower. She, a closet. and to have my aunt was a lovely woman. And and it was a win-win for my aunt that she had someone who was there all the time. I still had to do her cooking and all that things. But it was,it was wonderful. It was a win-win on every avenue.
It really was. So you
Life Leaps Podcast: feel like that experience with that woman in the laundromat opened your eyes to a need that you
Jane Merrow: may be It really did. Yep. Yep. Because she, yeah, she herself would use the food pantry at the Salvation Army and, and bring home little things and to help to contribute to the household and, it's Yeah.
I hadn't, interesting. I [00:16:00] hadn't thought about her for a while. Yeah. Yeah. But that was before the pantry even existed. Yeah.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. So these little things, not little things, they're big signs, but these things in your life are coming together. You had the experience with the woman in Scrubs again, of course at the time you're a nurse, right?
And you're seeing her having to apply for food, right? And then you're meeting this woman who is living out of her car and working at the Salvation Army. Okay? And then how much later is it that you come across this need for this local food pantry to have somebody take over?
Jane Merrow: Okay, so my aunt passed away in August of, 2011. So this woman had been staying with her up until, probably July, because that's when she went into a nursing home just for a, about a month and a half. And, and then, Food pantry present itself November of that same year. So it was like, it was all a plan.
It was all part [00:17:00] of what was supposed to happen.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. I'll stop dragging you back and now, I'm still dragging you back, but I've got a better idea now of how all these little small things. Yeah. It's funny how sitting here, we make a decision and.
Sometimes we don't really take the time to unpack it. Not for any bad reason, just because we're living our lives. Yeah. And it's funny that looking back, even at the time, we may not know exactly what factors influenced us or exactly what sort of seeds have been planted in our brain over the years, months, days, whatever.
And in this case, it's And maybe there are others that might come up after we talk. If so, gimme a call. But, but it, it all just sort of lines up, right? and then suddenly these awareness that becomes a part of you over the years gets activated when this chance opportunity comes up for someone to take over this pantry.
Jane Merrow: Yeah. Yeah. I really, I hadn't, I knew in the past that was the start of it, but I hadn't thought about, the woman's name was Mary Lou hadn't thought about her for a while, Okay. [00:18:00] Yeah. Thank you for bringing that back.
Life Leaps Podcast: do you know where Mary Lou is
Jane Merrow: now? I don't, I'd seen her off and on and she had, family that was, down on the south and I'd hoped that she was able to reconnect with them cuz it was in a strange situation, but, Okay.
As I say, nobody's perfect. Certainly not me, so
Life Leaps Podcast: well, as a Southerner, I heard the name Mary Lou and I was like, I don't think Mary Lou's from Boston. I don't know, maybe.
I've heard you say y'all before, Okay, so alright. Chance comes up, you decide that you're, you and another person are like, we're gonna take this on. We're gonna try and run this pantry out of our church. Absolutely. The church is going, we don't have space for this. And you're going, let's talk about that Civil war. So what happens?
Jane Merrow: Yeah, so we,we cleaned out a couple of the bookshelves in the library and we put food on the shelves instead. And slowly, we took more and more books out of the little library and put them up in the balcony of the church. And, and then just, so as I say, the first month we had one person, then we had, [00:19:00] a couple more the next.
And like we put signs in laundromats and grocery stores, saying, the, there was a food pantry and, different things like that. And,slowly people started to come. We had a little banner we had out in the front of, we'd put hangout, on the days that we were open, which was always a Friday, and continues to be only a Friday.
And then just slowly, we had, more and more people coming in and,it just, it was a grassroots, I guess is what you would call it. It just, yeah, it just bloomed and, yeah, we had little a number system, for people to shop and first it was a one to 50 and then we had to get another one to 50.
So we had we'd have maybe a hundred people that were waiting. We had childcare in the back of the church and. Wow. And we'd put over the back pews, people would donate clothing, so we'd put it up there so when people first came into the church, they'd, go up to the back to see what was available that week.
and when we got through with the pantry on Friday. We had to turn it back into a church.
And yeah, it was a lot of packing and unpacking for a long [00:20:00] time.
But then when the pandemic hit and we, couldn't do in-person, church services, we went to Zoom, we took over the entire, church and it's a good size church. And this was easier in some ways because we didn't have to unpack. So what we did is every single pew was filled with food. And we'd have signs like tuna, beef, stew, flour, brownie mix, peaches.
Everything was in order. And as we perfected it,we went to the online shopping and our shopping list would be, printed out. Cause we were doing the, shopping for people. we had different people come in and give us ideas.
And, during that time we joined the Greater Boston Food Bank. And I think we had to start off, we had to get. 2,500 pounds of food and we're thinking, oh, how could we ever use, 2000 pounds of food?
And, now we get, 21,000 pounds of food every month. yeah. plus about, nine or 10,000 from the community and local businesses that donate. So we're going through more [00:21:00] than 30,000 pounds of food now. But, Yeah, and it was,just going through that whole process, inch by inch.
and we need more. We constantly need more food. But, it was just incredibly organized with, and I think a lot of it is listening to other people.
That. every morning when we start the, food pantry on Friday, we go around and everyone has a chance to talk. and make little suggestions. And then we often will try those suggestions just to see what can we do to tweak things a little bit better? What can we do to make them, a little bit better?
and then in the summertime, we'd have a free farmer's market outside the church. So that people could pick their own produce,
fresh milk and fresh eggs and,and nourishing the nasho, which I mentioned before, they started a school food recovery program where they would go on Friday, they would go to some of the local high schools and grammar schools. And what the schools did every Friday is any food that was left over would be thrown out.
So they would pick up the [00:22:00] little white milks, chocolate milks, cheese sticks, yogurts, anything that they had and they would bring 'em to us. Friday was perfect because that's the day we were open. so we would put those things out too when people could choose those. And that was the first, first school food recovery program in Massachusetts.
wow. Nourishing the offshore has switched gears, And they no longer do that program. So our volunteers from the pantry now do that program and they go, to West Newbury, to Pawtucket. They go to the high school. There's, they go to several grammar schools and, we never know what, what's gonna be coming in that day.
And anything that is left over, if we can keep it we'll put that in our refrigerators. And if not, then it's distributed to, there's, three local programs,where people are recovering,drug or alcohol, rehab centers that are close by.
And then there's, a Wi Wit program, which is Women in Transition. It's women that have recently come out of, a jail system and are transferring back into the, community. So we, have [00:23:00] volunteers that bring any food that won't keep till the next week, to those places. And we also, we try to leave as little carbon imprint as possible.
and we recycle all the cardboard, recycle all of our plastic. And any, food that won't last until the next week or couldn't even be given to these places, if it's, bruised beyond Compare, we have people that will, bring it to local pigs, local cows, or local chickens so that there's very little waste.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah, I heard you saying also and I was like, there's still an also But actually Jane, there isn't also because you told me that you all are also, say it again. operating food pantries in five schools now in the local area schools.
Jane Merrow: Last, last summer. I wanted to do something for the homeless folks in this area, cuz I know that there are some homeless people.
Some come to the pantry, some not. And so we lined up, a bunch of people who would know what the homeless people need and all. And one of them was somewhere from the [00:24:00] school program. And, I didn't realize that, every school, this is a federal mandate, has to have someone who is in charge of.
Homeless children in the school system, and I was totally blown away. So homeless might be that they're living in a car. It might be that they're, we're a coastal area. so we have, winter rentals like motels. Where, or,it's like a seasonal home that you'd wanna rent for the summer, but, so in the winter there's no one there.
So you might be living there and then in the summertime, then they might have to. Go to live in a car, they might have to live in a camping area in, tents and things like that.
That's also considered homeless because it's not a permanent address. And, so anyway, I thought, man, we need to do something for these folks. So I knew from talking with, a teacher who lived close by that, and some of the school's teachers are incredible people. They give so much of themselves, but they also buy food for kids.
And when everybody else is having a snack in school,when there's kids without a [00:25:00] snack, so they would be buying things. So I'm thinking, you know what? We need to put pantries in these schools. So we, met with,the person who was in charge of the homeless kids, and then, with the social workers who are amazing people, social workers are just incredible.
And So we now have, food pantries in a high school. Middle school and five elementary schools. The elementary schools, the teachers would be the ones that would get the, the food for the kids. and I'd said, teachers load up your drawers so when everybody else is having a snack,you pass out this good stuff for them.
And then, we also found that some kids needed to take home. Home. food also. So we have things like mac and cheese, easy to make things like canned pasta, tuna fish, just things that would be easy to carry home. And in the middle school, in the high school, the kids could access that on their own.
We don't want any names. And we want the kids just to feel free to go in and out and take things. And we ask. And we also have, like fresh oranges, apples and [00:26:00] bananas every week at all of these, five places.
And the high school kids asked for things like, toothbrushes, deodorant. Shampoo. So we put all the personal needs, things in there too. And last count, we were affecting about a hundred kids every day Wow. With those programs.
And so that, but this mission of the food pantry also has another little mission of its own, which is the school pantry mission.
And, I was blessed to have, a young woman by the name of Kendall Bowie, who is kind of taken that over.
And I think it's the best thing we've ever done.
Life Leaps Podcast: Jane, could you ever have known that you would be doing all of this when no, over 10 years ago you just saw a woman in scrubs applying for food?
Jane Merrow: No, it's, no, it's an amazing thing. So we, so I'm gonna go back a little bit. So we started in the school library and took over the church. And then when the church wanted to go back to in-person services, we were thinking, oh my [00:27:00] gosh, what are we gonna do? We were looking, I was looking to buy land, looking to rent, see where we could go, and no one seemed to be able to help us out.
And, and one of our volunteers,Mary Jo Anderson,she helped me to get a big order. one day, and she was helping me bring it into the church and she said, you have enough room here behind the church, why don't you build a building here?
And it was like, it was beyond my hopes. So her husband, has a business and he became our general contractor. And,
it took us probably 11 months from when we moved out of the church and actually this same family let us use a three. Room garage that they were leasing. So we moved the pantry into a garage and we were there for about, 10 and a half or 11 months.
Life Leaps Podcast: So when restrictions from Covid lifted and church services happened to get, you guys couldn't have your space. You just moved to a garage. You found a garage. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Jane Merrow: we, yeah. These people let us use the garage and we never skipped a beat.
We served the pantry on the Friday. We packed [00:28:00] everything up that night and the next morning,ACE Movers, I'll give them a flow because they came and they donated their time and they helped us move everything from the food pantry over into this garage, refrigerator, freezer, everything.
Life Leaps Podcast: Did you have a moment when they were like, look, COVID o's over?
Yeah, everything's going back to normal. Like you can't be here anymore and you guys didn't know where to go. Because you're running this thing now, right? Like it's you. Did you have a moment when you were like, we could wrap it up, or maybe this is gonna stop, or maybe we're at a dead end? Or was it just always oh, we'll figure
Jane Merrow: out what's next?
I just, I knew that God had a plan and I knew that it was gonna continue, but I was beating the pavement. I'll tell you, I talked with, anyone that had a vacant building, any, anything at all, and couldn't find anything. And so we're in this garage. And,we never actually even declared a capital campaign, but we, we held a concert.
I have a brother-in-law who's a gifted musician, and he got other musicians. We had a wonderful [00:29:00] concert and,and we just started. I was speaking to anybody who would listen to me. I was on a little soapbox telling 'em what was happening.
And the funds came in. It was incredible. We had an open house. We had an open house before we moved, and then,it just somehow came together. we, had some grant writers, some incredible people from, the community and just pull together.
So in 11 months, We moved out of the church, decided on what we were gonna build, and through the strength of the community built this building. It's beautiful building. And I have to tell you that, when the steel got delivered, it was January 10th and,the man who was in charge of that called me, it was, about seven 30 in the morning
He said, you gotta get up here. You're not gonna believe the trucking company that's just delivered this building. So it, it's just a mile from my house. So I get up there quick. And there was the truck with all this steel and everything on it. And the trucking [00:30:00] company, it, they hire whomever, but the name of the company was Kids Got to Eat and it was like, oh my gosh, is this meant to be?
or what? it just took 'em a couple months,
We were in the building in May 6th. Wow.
Life Leaps Podcast: And Jane. Yeah. There was a moment in there there were a couple of big moments, but three big things are coming to my mind as challenges or turning points in your life that you could have stopped. And nobody would've blamed you.
one is when you decided to retire Two is your husband passing, and then three is a potentially very tragic accident. So I, yeah, I don't know where those fit into the puzzle, but I think it's important to hear.
Jane Merrow: Yeah, so in, 2020, the year of Covid, first I had fallen on the ice and broken my wrist, in February. Yeah, that's neither here nor there, but, I was able to keep working, keep ordering the food and all that. And then, in March, I had to retire the, [00:31:00] or basically the beginning of April.
and we had a really rough six months with my husband and. he was in and out of hospitals and,just trying to get him stabilized. And then I finally had him outta hospital. I felt so comfortable with him. This was in August and it was, oh my gosh, I was so excited. It was the first time I was gonna be able to go and do that big food pickup at the crosstalk and.
one of the, one of the drivers was a new driver using, one of the vehicles. Cause we had pickup trucks and cars and vans, to pick up the food for us to bring to the pantry. So I had ordered all this food, and so we were at the, it was a big trucking terminal and I was foolishly standing behind the vehicle and I was backing the person up, to get closer to the, the.
Crosstalk where the, where he would pick up the food and, something happened and he and the van kept coming in, I, and I was yelling,stop. And it couldn't stop. And I got pinned between the loading dock and the van. [00:32:00] And, so finally I said, please go forward. Go forward.
Cuz my, my, my left female was crushed. And I, and fell down. So anyway, went to the, emergency room and, as I say, my, my whole FEMA was totally crushed. And I just looking at the angle, I didn't think I'd ever walk again. I'm a nurse, but, so anyway, I had surgery and, some agent's surgery and put my leg back together.
Got a great thing. giant Clayton in my leg. And, so I was about three months in a wheelchair. During that time, my husband did pass. I had, I was able to visit him off and on, getting a ride either from my daughter or my brother-in-law. Someone would give me a ride and they'd still let me go to see him.
he was a big guy and he didn't like people telling him what to do. So even though it was covid, I was allowed to visit because he would do whatever I asked him to do. So I was actually a help to the nurses. So I went, first in a wheelchair and then, with a walker. and, so he passed, October, 30th[00:33:00] of, 2020.
And, so still, just out of the wheelchair. so I was not as involved in the pantry, but by that I took probably a month and a half off ordering food. But then I could do that from home and just, Yeah, And then my, the co-founder, was ordering the food for me for that period, and she had moved outta state, so it was really difficult for her.
So she told me that she was gonna retire and I knew that there was a local church that thought they might want to, do a pantry or something. And I, at that point said, I just, I can't do this anymore. just give it to them, if they wanna do it, maybe they'll let me sweep the floor there.
I still want to be involved, but, I just, I didn't think I could do, anything anymore. And then, I don't know,shook my head and, after a week or so I thought, you know what? we can do this. I had so many incredibly capable volunteers.
And,you know, people just pull together But I just, it just seemed like it was insurmountable and I couldn't continue. But, with all of these incredible people, we did it [00:34:00] and we were able to continue to go forward
Life Leaps Podcast: yeah, that sounds like a very. Big year.
Jane Merrow: It was a horrible year. It was a horrible year, but, working at the food pantry I've always said is therapy. For me. It's therapy. And you know what, it's therapy for a lot of other people too, because it, through the pandemic.
We were still able to socialize once a week. We could still see people. We wore masks and gloves and all of this stuff, but we still got to interact with people. We didn't have to be hole up in our house all this time. And so many people, it, it has helped, people who have had losses similar to me or, loss of a job or, it's.
Like a big family. We've probably got 160 or 170 volunteers now. it works as a fine, tuned machine. It's really incredible to just step [00:35:00] by back and see what's happening, but, For all of these people, it's, the reward is incredible.
the pay is, it's not a tangible pay, but it's soul pay and it's, as I say, we're like one big family, and it's wonderful. You told me really
Life Leaps Podcast: wonderful that the food pantry
Jane Merrow: saved you. It did. It totally did. I don't, I'm not saying I didn't grieve, the whole time I was grieving mobility.
I can walk now. I'm the luckiest person in the world. I have been my whole life incredibly blessed. I can walk and have a very little restrictions from what had happened to me and, It did save me. It did save me. I could have sat and wallowed and, there are days, I'm a normal human being.
You know that everybody feels that way. But if you know you've got something to do and you have to do it, then you're, you are pushed and you have to go forward. And, so it did, it [00:36:00] absolutely saved my life. It really did. I have an incredible family. and they were huge also.
my faith, never wavered very strong, but the fact that I had to do this job,and, I can't tell you how many hours I put in a week. It's more than I have a work nursing, but it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Yeah.
Life Leaps Podcast: When you almost gave it up for those horrible. Few days when you just felt like, I just can't do it anymore.
Yeah. What do you think it was, you mentioned community, but what do you think it was that sparked you to change your mind, to say, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna keep going.
Jane Merrow: I'm a, I'm a bossy person. I can, I try to be kind. I kind, I try to be a kind and nice to people cuz I love people and I like to be in charge.
and I don't wanna say pride is a factor, but that [00:37:00] ownership, it was something that, I felt I was in from the beginning. Didn't build it alone, didn't do anything alone. Couldn't possibly have done any of this alone, but it was like, did I really wanna hand it over? To someone else. they, I tell other people, you're really the boss of this section or the boss of that section.
You just let me, say that I'm in charge. But, it's just like having that final say and I wanted to go a certain way. I wanted people to feel comfortable and to be able to come and not have to have this registration process or. Or anything. I wanted them to still feel good and comfortable about coming.
And it was like that would've been another loss for me and I wasn't ready for another loss. and I think that's what snapped me back into it, that, selfishly it was for me and, wow.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. and that was three years ago and counting and yeah. That pantry is thriving. And your face Yes sir.
I'm [00:38:00] looking at you on video. Yeah. And I wish this podcast was a video in moments like this, because when I hear you talk about it, your face just lights up. you, it just does, it seems like it, it just, you come alive.
Jane Merrow: it is such a part of me. There's not a day that I'm not there, thank goodness.
It's only a mile away. And sometimes times I'm there two, three or four times a day. Um, you know, and we try to meet everyone's needs
And when people wanna donate, they say, what do you need? I say, what do you use at home? Because that's what these people need too. The very same thing that you need. Good point.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. how did you make the money work? it sounds like to build the big building, y'all of course did a bunch of concerts and got donations and Yep.
at one point you joined the Boston area Food Bank, But I guess in the beginning, were you just using your own money?
Jane Merrow: when we first started,
We used our own money, yeah.
it wasn't a whole lot. And then we asked a local bank and they, they gave us like a hundred dollars here, they, who we thought we were mentioning. [00:39:00] But no, I would say we probably. I would say easily spend $12,000 a month on, on food. some that we get from Greater Boston is free.
We got a lot of donations, but you ha you have to buy things too, you can't get everything for free and, just, to try to meet these needs. and we do not have a mortgage on our building. it's all paid for, which is just incredible.
Wow. Yeah.
Life Leaps Podcast: And Jane, how old are you?
Jane Merrow: I'm 71. Just, I love it.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. it's great to
Jane Merrow: not in my head. I can still pick 40 pound cases up and lug them around and, oh, and I think I need to do that until I can't anymore.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. Wow. And I was gonna say, not in your looks either, by the way. Like I wouldn't even have ventured.
Jane Merrow: Oh, thank you.
Life Leaps Podcast: Jane, you have done, I think your story demonstrates just so many amazing things, including Not needing.
Again, we have a lot of people who like travel the world and make [00:40:00] these big changes, myself included. to, and we think of that as a leap. Yeah. But I think that your story shows that you don't have to go anywhere. To make a leap. You don't have to, to make these grandiose gestures.
Although what you've done is grand to change the world, to change your community, to change your space, and to, and you don't have to be any particular age to try something completely new and to choose it again and again and again. And, as you did and have, and so I just wanna ask, I always close out with asking my guests What do you wish you'd known?
What insights, what advice do you have for past Jane or for present Karen sitting here looking at you and all of our listeners who are maybe on the cusp of making life changes or in the thick of it, or, we're all looking to make leaps in one way or another. And so what do you, you wanna share?
Jane Merrow: I've always said life is very short. We're on this planet for a little blip. And so you have to live every day to the fullest and [00:41:00] to try to be nice to people along the way. and that's been my little motto for a long time. And I told you my faith is very strong and. I think anybody can do anything if you follow your heart and you have incredibly smart, supportive people around you, because none of this would've happened without the incredible support of our volunteers.
I'm not that smart, but they're computer skills and writing skills and amazing talents. And it, if you don't ask, you never know. in asking for, funding and asking for, donations, but just anything, and this world is surrounded by wonderful people.
Retire and they still have so much more to give. And I think that's my thing. it's not me alone, Karen, and that's what you need to know, but it's, I guess if I look back, I really would not even change one thing.
I would, just go forward because [00:42:00] I am the luckiest person in the world. And I've said that for years and years, and I still believe it.
Life Leaps Podcast: Thank you all for being here. We're a brand new podcast, so if you enjoyed it, go ahead and follow rate and review us in your podcast app so that we can know what you liked and others can find us. It would mean a lot. Last but not least, we'll keep you posted on brand new episodes each week when you follow us on Facebook or Instagram at you Guessed it like LEAPS podcast.
Till next time.