Barry Kooda and Manuel Maroches in front of the X+ people’s pantry.
Newlyweds Amber Padilla and Jonathan Smith put up a “blessings box” outside their Bishop Arts area home in April, when things like toilet paper were still in short supply.
Emily Ruth Cannon took the books out of her little free library in Winnetka Heights and instead stocks it with bread, beans and other staples that friends and neighbors donate.
Now Maroches Bakery has the X+ “people’s pantry.”
It was the idea of the Kessler Theater’s creative director Jeff Liles, who coined the name X+ for that neighborhood because of the shape of the street grid where Tyler and Polk meet West Davis.
Maroches Bakery provided the space, and Barry Kooda built it with materials donated by Matthew Kurzman. Karen Foster did the art and lettering.
