Neo-Political Cowgirls’ January Workshop Features Deep Creative Dive And Little Free Food Pantry

Founder of Neo-Political Cowgirls (NPC), Kate Mueth, has arranged “for the dance company that is committed to creating new, socially immediate site-specific theater and Education and Advocacy outreach programs,” to once again give back to the community in a meaningful way, and is pleased to announce that the company has received “Permission to erect [our] little free food pantry in East Hampton as part of Neo-Political Cowgirls’ January Girls workshop.”

Mueth confirmed that “You will be able to donate and/or take for free non-perishable foods from this pantry,” explaining, “January Girls is a month of Sundays where intergenerational girls and women ages six to 106 meet in art and friendship. Crossing cultures, generations and economic strata, January Girls is in its fifth year and this year are proud to be partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Church in Sag Harbor on the Bridge Turnpike.”

Continuing, “Since there are five Sundays in January this year instead of our usual four, we had a dangling workshop and we were wondering what special thing we might do to work together for our community. When Michael Daly of the Unitarian Universalist Church showed me the grounds, he also showed me their beautiful little free food pantry and it just struck me as such a gorgeous act of love and community spirit that I thought creating one for East Hampton might be a lovely way to bring us together throughout the year, taking our work beyond just January and giving us a way to build out these relationships into a larger committed effort.” 

Mueth credits the church by stating, “They also are the ones who inspired us to do this and are our teachers in best practices in maintaining our pantry.” She also expressed that “These little free food pantries are truly where caring, dignity, and neighborly sharing takes root for community coming together.”

Relief at the ease of launching this endeavor, Mueth explained, “It really just took an ask – sometimes we hear what we want in response and sometimes we don’t and need to rethink our work. The East Hampton Town Board was spectacular in their support of this and Kathee Burke Gonzales called and made some suggestions and even went further to extend ongoing support which is deeply appreciated.”

Mueth further extended her thanks to Kimberly Quinn Johnson and Michael Daly of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Fork, as well as the East Hampton and the NPC Board of Directors, “and a very warm thanks goes to Bill Costello of Men At Work who is not only donating the labor but also the materials to build us two LFF Pantries! It’s this spirit that all involved have exuded that creates beauty in a community and helps us all to thrive. It really does ‘take a village’ and all of us at NPC are beyond grateful to all these kind humans.” 
 
The exact location of the Pantry has not been announced yet according to Mueth, “As it needs to pass resolution when the board meets on January 5, but it will be up by January 22 at the Senior Center on Springs Fireplace Road.”

“We hope you’ll make use of our pantry and we hope you’ll send a girl or woman our way for a January Girls workshop. It’s free for participants and we have five fantastic art projects happening with artists!” Mueth exclaimed.

Sign up is required to attend with a strict cut-off at 26 participants and masks and social distancing enforced. For more information and to sign up email [email protected].

For information on the workshops, go to www.hisawyer.com/neo-political-cowgirls. For more information about the Neo-Political Cowgirls, go to www.npcowgirls.org.