When COVID lockdowns forced layoffs and closures all over Seattle nearly six years ago, thousands of people struggled to feed their families.
“COVID stripped bare the failures of our current system to keep people well and supported,” said Seattle resident and community volunteer Reid Branson. “A lot of people were going hungry.”
In response to that need, a group of “energetic” young people founded the first community fridge in Seattle. The worldwide community refrigerators movement offers a free, anonymous, and localized way for people to access fresh food, such as produce and dairy. Branson is a member of the nonprofit Seattle Community Fridge (SCF), which now helps keep seven community refrigerators stocked.
Seattle Community Fridge is not your typical charity. As a mutual aid group, SCF is a voluntary, non-hierarchical organization where resources are shared unreservedly to address a community need. There are no conditions or criteria for receiving resources, no paid staff, and a minimal budget.
“There’s no concept of ‘deservingness’ and no inherent political agenda,” Branson explained. “It’s just people who have a lot giving to people who don’t.”
Seattle Community Fridge currently has six locations, with one on the way. They include:
- Phinney Ridge: Woodland Park Presbyterian, 225 N 70th St.
- Dunlap/Rainier Beach: In alley at 48th Ave. S & S Thistle St.
- North Beacon Hill: 1307 13th Ave. S
- Capitol Hill: St. Joseph Parish, 745 19th Ave. E
- Inside LGBTQ+ Center: 400 E Pine St.
- Burien: 12027 10th Ave. S
- Coming soon: Estelita’s Library, 241 Martin Luther King Jr Way S
- Though SCF doesn’t collect data on people who visit the fridge, relationships form organically.
For example, SCF member Reily Ingram-Sowell would pick up food from the Delridge Farmers Market to stock the Rainier fridge.
“I keep a pretty regular volunteer schedule,” Ingram-Sowell said. She began to notice a small crew of familiar faces every time she dropped off food. “We didn’t speak the same language, but we were able to communicate what they needed, and now I see them pretty much every time.”
Likewise, when Burien SCF volunteers noticed a small community of Afghan people visiting the fridge, they started stocking items traditionally used in Afghan cuisine.
Learn more about taking or giving fresh food: seattlecommunityfridge.org
