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How to Start a Community Fridge
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Change Food’s “How to Start a Community Fridge” is a free, step-by-step manual for anyone interested in launching and maintaining a community fridge. Inspired by author Diane Hatz’s efforts and experience co-founding and running the East Village Neighbors Fridge in New York City, the guide offers common sense instruction on how to get a fridge up and running in any neighborhood.
The pandemic has brought untold pain and suffering to so many people around the world, and has shed light on the critical situation with food insecurity and hunger here in the United States. From the overwhelming number of people struggling to find enough food to eat has come a growing movement of mutual aid and community building, all focused around a fridge.
What is a community fridge? Simply put, it’s a refrigerator left in public for the community to leave food for others and for neighbors to take food that they need. “Take what you need; leave what you can” is the movement’s motto.
There’s no official count yet of these fridges, but they number in the many hundreds, if not thousands. And they’re not only feeding neighbors; they’re also building community and helping strengthen bonds within neighborhoods all over the country and world. They’re taking neighborhoods and turning them into connected communities.
An added bonus is that the fridges are also helping to minimize food waste by offering fresh food that might be near its expiration date and might otherwise have been thrown out by a store or restaurant.
So, how do you start a fridge? It’s as simple as finding a fridge and a place to plug it in, although it’s also more complex than that to be successful. Steps include:
- Research. Before you do anything, look at other fridges and see what they’ve done — especially look for ones in your area. Find inspiration in the efforts of those before you. Also, research any legalities of hosting a fridge in your particular area.
- Partner. There are specific reasons why you should partner with a nonprofit or fiscal sponsor.
