What is a community fridge?

A community fridge can be a 24/7 anonymous food resource. Community fridges across the tri-state area and now in many cities in the US are fighting food insecurity, reducing waste, and uniting neighbors and community.

These community fridges are a network of over 100+ refrigerators plugged in outside of stores, businesses, community centers, homes, and churches aimed at fighting food waste in a country that throws away 30 percent to 40 percent of its food supply every year. Many food items inside community fridges are the same things you’d find at Whole Foods—but rescued from Whole Foods.

We hope those involved with fridges seek to support and build community and relationships at each fridge. To this end, creating an environment of respect and understanding. Understanding each other’s experiences and helping each other get the support they need at the fridge. The fridge is a resource for everyone, there is no assumption or policing of how much someone needs or takes. As a collective resource, everyone has a different reason for needing the amount of food taken.

Food is not, and should never be, a privilege.

Why did they start popping up everywhere?

In Our Hearts began and kicked off organizing the community fridge movement and it has since been taken on by many collectives, communities, and individuals who are dedicated to organizing or keeping up with their own fridges, in their own neighborhoods.

Other than the obvious reason of pandemic economic insecurity and food waste, shared values and human love for one another are why fridges began popping up everywhere. Community fridges are run by their neighbors and communities, and each one has its own unique rules and needs. Each fridge is not run by charity, but by community connection and empowerment. During the pandemic, connection to each other was needed, and the fact that fridges create a powerful presence of shared values around food that is not about thanking anyone, but about community and neighborly efforts.

What is mutual aid?

In mutual-aid systems, people work cooperatively to meet the needs of everyone in the community. It’s different from charity, which features a one-way relationship between an organization and recipients, and often responds to the effects of inequality, but not its causes. Mutual aid is an act of solidarity that builds sustained networks between neighbors. As prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba explained to the New Yorker: “It’s not community service—you’re not doing service for service’s sake. You’re trying to address real material needs.”

Mutual-aid groups are made up of organizers and volunteers who respond to the needs of communities. How they achieve this logistically differs from group to group. Many of the mutual-aid groups that cropped up in response to the pandemic started in Google Docs and Slack channels, in which people came together to discuss how to support each other within the neighborhood.

In short, people offer help—which could be resources, like food or money, or skills, like driving or picking up prescriptions—which are then redistributed to those in the community who are in need. Mutual-aid systems operate under the notion that everyone has something to contribute, and everyone has something they need. (credit: amanda arnold)

Dean Spade, a trans activist, writer, and teacher, created a visually compelling and informative video with collaborator, Ciro Carillo, about mutual aid. Dean defines mutual aid projects as “a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions. Not through symbolic acts or putting pressure on representatives, but by actually building new social relations that are more survivable.” (sourced from FGCF)

How is mutual aid different from charity?

Solidarity, not charity! “Charity blames poor people for poverty. Mutual aid blames the system for making people poor and says everyone deserves everything they need...Charity is top down. Mutual aid is horizontal.” (credit: Dean Spade)

Mutual aid stands in stark contrast to conventional methods of charity. Charities typically get most of their funding from wealthy individuals and institutions like universities and corporations. Mutual aid efforts are funded from within the community, inspired by horizontal solidarity rather than top-down philanthropy. 

They aim to create permanent systems of support and self-determination, whereas charity creates a relationship of dependency that fails to solve more permanent structural problems. Through mutual aid networks, everyone in a community can contribute their strengths, even the most vulnerable. Charity maintains the same relationships of power, while mutual aid is a system of reciprocal support. 

“This is not charity; this is empowerment. There isn’t a group you have to thank. It’s something the community can own.”

To many, charity evokes the image of rich, savior-like benefactors giving to those who they believe to be lesser. “We think that’s bullshit,” says Umpster, who emphasizes nonhierarchical justice work that is born in and of the community.

What causes food insecurity?

Many people in America do not have the resources to meet their basic needs. In 2019 alone, 35.2 million people, including 10.7 million children, faced hunger in America. That comes out to 1 in 9 individuals and 1 in 7 children who may have lived in food-insecure households. Food insecurity does not exist in isolation, as low-income families are affected by multiple overlapping issues, like lack of affordable housing, social isolation, chronic or acute health problems, high medical costs, and low wages. Extensive research reveals food insecurity is a complex problem, which we feel is linked to trickle-down capitalism in America.

What is the history behind food waste?

America has more than enough food to feed everyone. Each year billions of pounds of perfectly good foods go to waste. Meanwhile, an average of 35 million people may experience food insecurity in the US and more during the coronavirus pandemic. That’s 108 billion pounds of food wasted annually in the United States. That equates to more than $161 billion worth of food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.

Food waste is safe, high-quality food that is thrown away rather than eaten. Food waste occurs for a variety of reasons:

• Uneaten food that is thrown away at homes, stores, and restaurants

• Crops left in fields because of low crop prices or too many of the same crops being available

• Problems during the manufacturing and transportation of food

• Food not meeting retailers' standards for color and appearance

Food rescue (food recovery) is the practice of collecting high-quality foods that would otherwise go to waste and distributing the food to people facing hunger. In Our Hearts began Community Fridges with the intention and continued practice of advocating for manufacturers, retailers, and farmers to reduce food waste and get rescued food to fridges. Community fridges help redirect good food otherwise thrown away back into our communities.

How can I help with community fridges?

Thank you for being interested in helping with fridges! You can help a whole lot by volunteering to distribute food to fridges with your bike, car, or cargo bike, by spreading the word, soliciting donations of food that would otherwise go to waste (online or in-person), or donating to the community fridge Venmo. Find out more here.

What can be donated to a fridge?

There are now 100+ fridges in the tri-state area alone. Many fridges have guidelines as to what kind of food they take, usually listed right on their Instagram or from the maps view you can find notes. Each fridge is associated with and for the community it’s located in, therefore there are veggie-only, or vegan-only, while some take dairy and meat.

We encourage fresh groceries that are not store-bought, but help us fight food insecurity by asking food storage managers to make exceptions to their waste. We encourage smaller portions at a time, come with a buddy to help you unload!

Make sure to check with the fridge you are looking to donate to, as each community is unique in its needs.

Where is the nearest fridge?

We have an active, open-source map where you can find the nearest fridge. We welcome you to drive or walk by and take a peek in! Make sure to check the fridge’s social media and rules before donating. We hope to see you at a fridge nearby soon. Scroll down to find the map.