‘Tis the Season to Amplify: Support Community Fridges
As the holidays approach, you may be plotting what gifts to get your friends and family. But have you thought of giving a gift to your community?
This is the last post of my 5-part blog series highlighting grassroots organizations with mutual aid components that could use your support this winter - and beyond.
(Don’t miss out! Read the first, second, third, and fourth parts too.)
This series focuses on groups serving Western Queens, particularly Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona.
Love Wins Food Pantry is just one of many neighborhood mutual aid organizations in this area. Some of them have been helping Queens residents for years, offering resources, services, direct action, and more. This holiday season, consider supporting your local community fridge.
Community Fridges
Also called “free-dges,” community fridges are a type of mutual aid project which provides perishable foods to the neighborhood. Such a project requires three basic things to function - a refrigerator, a working outlet, and food donations. All three can be sourced from the community.
The Jackson Heights Community Fridge, for example, sits on the corner of 80th street and Northern Boulevard. The Queensboro, a local restaurant, connects the fridge to electricity. Volunteers raise money to stock it with fresh produce. Sometimes Love Wins Food Pantry stocks the fridge too, with whatever food is left over from our weekly distribution. Local businesses contribute as well, donating surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. As the saying goes, it takes a village to run a fridge.
Photo of the Jackson Heights Community Fridge from their Instagram account.
If you’d like to support this beautiful fridge, pictured above, you can start by dropping off some groceries. Volunteers ask that you donate fruits, vegetables, dairy, tofu, and bread, rather than prepared foods or meat. You can also donate via Venmo to @jacksonheightscommunityfridge.
The following fridges could also use your help.
77-02 Woodside Ave. Elmhurst, NY
Graphics from their Instagram account.
If you have a car and can drive, the Elmhurst fridge needs you. Without drivers, it is difficult for them to pick up food donations from businesses outside of Queens. You can sign up to volunteer here or through the link in their Instagram bio.
For information about which foods to donate, see the images above. You can also donate money via Venmo to @elmhurst-fridge.
104-05 47th Ave. Corona, NY
Graphics from their Instagram account.
You can sign up to volunteer at the Corona fridge here, or through the link in their Instagram bio. Like the Elmhurst fridge, they especially need volunteers with cars who can pick up and drop off food donations. See the images above to learn what foods to donate. You can also donate money via Venmo to @coronacomunidadfridge.
Thank you to those of you who followed ‘Tis the Season to Amplify over the these last two months. I hope you got involved or got some help from one of these wonderful groups.
With love always, Carly
