From NPR, image from IOHNYC
If you’ve happened upon a working refrigerator filled with food on your city’s streets, your eyes weren’t deceiving you. “Freedges” are popping up on sidewalks, fully stocked. The idea began in Davis, California shortly after the pandemic began and has since spread to Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and other cities grappling with food insecurity.
The freedges are filled with produce, eggs and milk, all free for the taking, and are kept stocked by community organizers, though in many cases no particular organization is in charge of the effort. The need is great: demand at food banks surged by 60 percent since the pandemic began, and fans of the freedges say they’re spreading not just food, but hope and a sense of community.
As to whether the freedges are a real solution and not just a feel-good Band-Aid, one freedge contributor, Brandi Mack of Oakland, CA, says she hopes they’ll eventually turn into a more formal system that outlasts the pandemic. “I will urge folks who are, you know, excited to offer a distribution model to really think about the sustainability of it, that we no longer can do 'Superman' designs helping communities that have been traumatized," she told NPR.
Map out the local food systems and build a distribution network that will outlast the pandemic, Mack says, noting hunger will still be a scourge long after the virus isn't.
