Upcoming Closures!
The Newton Food Pantry will be closed on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30.
Freedges, or free refrigerators, also known as friendly fridges or love fridges, have been around for nearly a decade outside the U.S. but became more prevalent in the U.S. when the pandemic started. As explained by Max Graham in his 2023 article in Grist magazine, during the height of COVID “the fridges were viewed as a creative response to an urgent need,” when “supply chains were crumbling, food prices were rising, and families across the country were struggling to find meals.” According to this article, nonprofits have been “overseeing hundreds of fridges that bolster access to food in cities from Miami to Anchorage, Alaska.”
Freedges not only address food insecurity at the local level, but they also provide a cost-effective and efficient way to minimize food waste in landfills. Community members, including local restaurants and grocery stores, can donate excess perishable food anytime during the day.
According to the article Food Waste in America 2023 by RTS, the U.S. discards more than 40% of our entire food supply and is the country with the highest amount of discarded food — over 120 billion pounds every year! Food waste is actually the “single largest component taking up space inside U.S. landfills” the RTS article stresses, and the amount of food America wasted can be equated to a value of over $218 billion, which is the same as 130 billion meals. By providing an alternative, freedges help reduce the amount of perishable food that ends up in landfills.
The Newton Community freedge celebrated its second anniversary this past March and has enabled the Newton Food Pantry to greatly extend and augment its reach. Thanks to the generous support we receive from individuals, community groups, local restaurants and businesses, each week the freedge is stocked with a wide variety of perishable and nonperishable foods. On average, the freedge is visited by 15 shoppers per hour. To meet demand, the Newton Food Pantry spends more than $1,500 weekly on staple items for the freedge.
This holiday season, if you are looking to share your good fortune with your neighbors, consider donating to the Newton Community freedge. Suggested Thanksgiving items include:
- Cranberry sauce
- Jarred gravy or gravy mix
- Canned pumpkin
- Marshmallows
- Stuffing mix
- Sweet/russet potatoes
- Green beans
- Butternut squash
- Celery
- Carrots
- Dinner rolls
- Mac and cheese mix
- Sugar/brown sugar
- Fresh or dried herbs
- Milk/cream
- Whipped cream
- Butter
- Onions
- Oranges
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Garlic
As a reminder, the freedge does not accept home cooked meals or leftovers for public health and safety reasons. Also, there is no freezer at the freedge. So, no frozen turkeys please. To learn more about the Newton Community freedge and to view the donation guidelines, please click here.
Happy Thanksgiving!