How the Love Fridge Group Brings Hope & Fresh Food to Communities
Photo Credit © The Love Fridge Chicago 2021
There are few things more heartwarming and impressive than seeing the resourcefulness of a community that takes action when there is an unmet need. It may not solve the overarching problem, and it’s unlikely to get to the root of the problem. But it does highlight a need while taking action and refusing to wait for someone else to step in. The Love Fridge is just such a heartwarming thing.
The Love Fridge is a mutual aid group based in Chicago. It places refrigerators throughout the city containing free, fresh, and healthy food for anyone who needs it. [FN1] The group is adamant that these actions are not a form of charity – and are instead the application of the guiding principles of mutual aid. [FN2] This means that everyone is able to contribute what they can. The group collaborates with individuals who donate items, community partners who donate food, farm partnerships, and hosts who maintain these refrigerators. Individuals may take food they need and leave food that they don’t. [FN1]
It is the belief of the Love Fridge group that being able to feed oneself is a right, not a privilege. This drives them to nourish the community, work to combat food scarcity and waste, and to team up with like-minded community partners. The group went into action in mid 2020 and at the last count, had placed 27 fridges in Chicago. [FN1] An aspect of the Love Fridges is how they are used as a medium for art. Inviting local artists, these “canvasses” allow each fridge to become a distinct and interactive piece of art, around which strangers may spark up conversations, and these artworks can become part of the neighborhood in ways that develop a more cohesive community. [FN3]
The Love Fridge is the brainchild of Ramon Norwood, the founder of Etc Records. A musician from Chicago who splits his time between Chicago and Brooklyn, Norwood saw a similar model in Brooklyn and decided to bring the concept to Chicago. [FN3]
In typical food banks, managers and volunteers need to monitor inventory and be mindful of expiration dates and damaged or opened items, but often the majority of what is distributed is shelf-stable goods. [FN4] In a Love Fridge, by contrast, items are fresh and perishable and require frequent monitoring and attention to detail in order to keep consumers safe. There are many guidelines in place in order to accomplish this. [FN1] In terms of the preparation of food to be donated, masks, gloves, and standardized food safety guidelines are to be followed. All prepared food needs be labeled with all ingredients and dated from the day of preparation.
This way of keeping donated food safe and fresh requires that donors, consumers, and fridge hosts all do their part. Asking that no one donate any food item that they themselves would not wish to consume sets a tone of respect and a clear standard. There is also pre-triage for more problematic kinds of items: raw meats and fish, opened items, expired items, and alcohol are not to be donated. This keeps inventory limited to items that are relatively manageable.
Everyone is asked to wear a mask and ensure that their hands are clean when accessing any fridge. When a consumer or fridge host notices a fridge that is operating above 41°F, or needs cleaning or maintenance, they report this to the Love Fridge group. Habits such as taking the initiative to throw away food that has obviously gone bad, has expired, or otherwise been compromised, helps keep only fresh items in stock. Keeping food in sealed and unopened packages helps ensure freshness and prevents contamination from other sources. The ability to accept dairy, fresh produce, sauces, breads, and cured meats provides a basis for healthy and fresh options. [FN1]
Impact of Love Fridges
Meeting the basic need for access to fresh food is significant. But this concept of community building to raise awareness, form bonds, and empower both donors and consumers makes a powerful statement: people are not helpless. Foundational issues that surround food inequality still exist but finding ways to move in the right direction and rally a community around food solutions points the needle in the right direction.
Though the mission of Love Fridges is decidedly to provide fresh, healthy food, they also provide a focal point for each community that has installed them. When financial donations are made, they have been used to purchase additional food to place in the fridges, or to purchase materials to build the structures that protect the fridges from the elements. Donations have also been used to print informational flyers on the fridges for the community, or to help local artists purchase supplies to paint the distinctive fridges. [FN6] If you feel inspired to donate, the Love Fridges group website donation button is at https://www.thelovefridge.com/
Food insecurity is a complex problem that requires changes at many levels. While continuing to strive for larger-scale changes, looking for small yet meaningful ways to help shows how communities can come together to care for one another. A correlated benefit of actions like Love Fridges is that they bring attention to the issue of food insecurity. This is an important way to find solidarity in a community; by garnering supporters and partners and educating those who are less aware. The Love Fridge group action is a fantastic example of how a small idea can take hold and have a mobilizing influence in communities.
Resources & Notes
1. https://www.thelovefridge.com/
2. In organization theory, mutual aid is a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit. Mutual aid projects are a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and, in some cases, for changing political conditions. The term "mutual aid" was coined by the philosopher Peter Kropotkin in his essay collection Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, which argued that cooperation, not competition, was the driving mechanism behind evolution. To see more about Kropotkin, see https://books.google.fr/books?id=CbLoDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
3. https://www.onelovecommunityfridge.org/
4. Shelf-stable food is of a type that can be safely stored at room temperature in a sealed container.
5. The Love Fridge brings fresh food to Chicago - Chicago Tribune
6. https://www.changex.org/us/communityfridge/chicago-il-usa-cook-county-5