TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — You may have seen small free libraries or pantries around your neighborhood, where neighbors can pickup or drop off food and books.
A new non-profit in Midtown Tucson put up a free pantry of their own, but added a cooler twist: a connected community fridge and freezer.
Tucson Freedge— a free community fridge— works just like a fridge in a home, but for everyone in Tucson.
Anybody headed by can just walk up, open it up and leave what they can or take what they need.
"And not just what they need, stuff that they want too," said Tucson Freedge's Board Director Saeed Torres. "Like they don’t need ice cream, but it makes life happier, and it’s something everyone deserves to have if they like it.”
The non-profit's few-person board said their goal was to reduce food waste in the community while creating a low-barrier way for anyone to get a meal, anytime of day.
"There's plenty of food in Tucson," said Executive Director Jen Ollman. "It’s really a distribution problem, so this is a distribution solution."
She put the Freedge outside her store, Jen's Organic Home and Baby on Broadway Blvd. near Country Club Rd., after she became tired of waiting for someone else to start a free fridge next to their neighborhood pantries.
"This is Tucson," she said. "You can't put most foods in a wooden box during the day and expect it to be like edible for someone who wants it, you know, 20 minutes later."
Something the group says often isn't considered, even when neighbors have good intentions of helping others.
Tucson Freedge co-founder Jay McKinley has a few year history of mutual aid organizing in Tucson.
"Over the past couple of years, I've learned a lot, and I'm still learning," he said. "I've learned a lot about actually making things accessible. I've done a lot of mutual aid, and it wasn't an environment that my spouse would have felt comfortable coming to."
That's why the board is prioritizing the lived experiences of those they want to serve.
“I have been homeless myself, and I’ve also had a home and not had food to eat," said Torres. "Even when I didn’t have food, not feeling necessarily safe to go to place where they had food for me like food banks.”
The free fridge and freezer are equipped with lights at night and locks to keep the actual fridge and freezer in place, but with only guidelines on the fridge outlining the rules, how do they stop someone from taking everything at once?
“I’ve also had that worry," Torres said. "If stuff gets taken or if stuff gets messed up— maybe someone's having a really horrible day, and they cannot emotionally regulate. So, they emotionally regulate by knocking [the water station] over and breaking it. Hopefully, they felt a little bit of emotional relief, and we will figure it out when we get there. Life is about solving problems.”
However, they're hoping there won't be too many problems to solve.
“If it’s something that belongs to the community, hopefully, the community will want to take care of it," Torres said.
The Freedge is fully funded by community donations and grants. The entire project cost the non-profit about $25,000 dollars, and they're only 20% of the way through paying that off.
Tucson Freedge is welcoming contributions of any type to help keep the fridge running.
"Show up the way you are," Torres said. "It doesn’t matter what you have or what you need."
For more information on how to get involved, check on the guidelines on the Tucson Freedge Instagram and Facebook.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
