NYC & LA Now Have Community Fridges Where You Can “Take Some and Leave Some”!
NYC & LA Now Have Community Fridges Where You Can “Take Some and Leave Some”!
In a climate where we’re seeing lots of changes in our communities, one change definitely caught our eye. New York-based organizations Brooklyn Free Store, Food Not Bombs and A New World in Our Hearts collaborated on the community fridge movement. The community fridge movement started in Brooklyn and has spread to Manhattan, Harlem, Queens and even Jersey City. Currently there are 15 community fridge locations in the New York metropolitan area, all of which contain food donated by the organization and people living in the community.
Image via @iohnyc
New World Hearts cited the @thefeedge online community which are located globally as the source to the U.S based program. The community fridges are marked with English and Spanish signage stating that the food is free. Anyone can walk up and take what they like as well as leave food if they wish. They even developed a instructions for those looking to donate which reads, “When stocking fridges we ask that you put the newest items in the back and the older items near the front so that we are following the first-in-first-out rule. Dating food items is helpful but not necessary as the turnover rate may be pretty fast. However, we do encourage labelling foods that were prepared in a home or by a business with ingredients that were used in case of allergies.”
This initiative started because the organizers felt the government hasn’t been doing enough to battle
Image via @iohnyc
hunger and took it upon themselves to feed their neighbors. Brooklyn Free Store co-founder Thadeaus Umpster told the BK Reader, “The government is focused on bailing out and propping up major companies and the stock market. The government doesn’t care about us, so we need to help each other.”
The community fridges are maintained by volunteers but they also encourage anyone using the fridges to clean up any spills or messes they may see.
The movement has been so strong that Los Angeles has adopted the program. @lacommunityfridge popped up by being inspired by the New York orgs. According to their active fridge map they have eight community fridges in various locations throughout LA.
