Krystal Christensen knows what it’s like to rely on community resources like local food banks for a hot meal.

Christensen, a wife, mother and social media influencer who lives in Herriman, has ties to Utah County — she spent time living in Lehi and her family is from American Fork.

Currently, she spends time creating content across multiple social media platforms. She’s built a community of over 158,000 followers on her @charminglyfrugal TikTok account.

Pumping out videos on social media brings fulfillment to Christensen and has other benefits, some even proving to be financial, especially when a piece of content goes viral. But in some cases, the comments under those videos are filled with negativity.

“And so I decided I wanted to take what came from the hate and pay it forward to something good,” she said.

Turning a negative into a positive, she decided to contact a group of local food banks for a list of the most needed items, so she could personally gather and deliver them.

Christensen recently recounted how the kindness of others provided a way for her mother to put food on the table.

“She had gone to food banks when I was a kid, and so people’s donations are what kept me fed when I was younger,” Christensen told the Daily Herald.

Tabitha’s Way, a local pantry where her mother would go to put food on the table, was the only pantry that responded with a detailed list of what was needed.

The result was a donation of just over $500 out of Christensen’s own pocket in groceries and items delivered to the pantry’s American Fork warehouse.

Tabitha’s Way Community Relations Coordinator Kara Smith said she was surprised and excited when the donation showed up.

“You just never know, especially when you have someone calling you, if they’re going to come through or not,” Smith said.

She also shared that the donation came at the right time, with warmer months approaching and when food assistance typically spikes.

According to the Utah Food Bank, summer is the most critical time of need for families facing food insecurity. One factor is not being able to consistently rely on school meals.

The pantry hosts several food drives throughout the year. Smith said prior to a recent statewide Feed Utah food drive in March, their donations had dwindled.

“Donations like this are very important to help us get by while we’re in between food drives,” Smith told the Daily Herald.

Tabitha’s Way says the need for food assistance across its Utah County pantries has doubled in the past year — largely due to inflation and an uptick in prices at the grocery store.

Smith says receiving a big donation isn’t uncommon, but someone using the power of social media is a rare case. She’s grateful for Christensen’s resources and is hoping this leads to more people discovering the pantry as a resource and adding to their roster of volunteers.

In true content creator fashion, Christensen documented the donation with a video for her social media followers to see. While the gesture was done as a way to give back, she also hopes it inspires more individuals to do something kind, which showed in her video comments section.

“A lot of people were like, ‘I’m going to go donate to my local food bank. I’m gonna go through my pantry and see what I have to do to help,’ which was amazing to see,” Christensen said. “Because then it motivates somebody else, and then someone else’s kids might be fed that day.”

Newsletter