Really great news!!!

A local bakery that specializes in gluten free bread, pastries, and cakes reached out to us...

...we didn't reach out to them. They contacted us!...

...about doing food rescue with them!

Not only are they looking at food rescue in general, but they're specifically looking at serving those that are hungry AND have food allergies and intolerances!

Everyone deserves healthy, tasty, good, and safe food (and also desserts!!!) - even those that have food constraints.

So we worked it out. Every day they take whatever they didn't sell and freeze it. We come by once a week and pick it up and run it to one of the fridges!

Look at this first haul!!!

#foodRescue #foodSecurity #solarPunk #freeFridge #goodNews

A couple updates (all good news) on the Free Fridges:

- Others in my group have taken lead on the free fridges and community pantries. This is amazing as it indicates that my group has grown and is empowered enough that they dont need me to direct them. I'm still involved, but I'm focusing on building out the food rescue side of the house

- Both fridges are going strong! Many neighbors, people we've never met, are stocking the fridge. Other neighbors are utilizing it. And many contribute AND utilize. The infrastructure is working!

- A couple other places in town have expressed interest in hosting more fridges! So we're in talks with them. Irons in the fire! The program is getting noticed and is expanding.

- Lastly (pictured), I installed some grocery bag dispensers at each site. Folks can put in their used "single-use" grocery bags and others can take those and use them to fill up and carry food they utilize from the free fridges!

#freeFridge #solarPunk #mutualAid #foodSecurity

That's GREAT NEWS, @tinker !!! Thank you for sharing!

#solarPunk #solarPunkSunday
#freeFridge #foodSecurity #postScarcity #mutualAid

We did it!!!

We built a new free fridge and community pantry!

It took about a hundred days from deciding to do it, through planning, and finally execution (thread above tracks this). And that is for putting down concrete and electrical. If we did a simple fridge on a pallet, it can be quicker. But even going all out, dang!

So we held the ribbon cutting ceremony. A lot of folks showed up to do the initial stock. Now we'll maintain it and spread the word out to the community. The town has a food resource app. The library maintains a list. I'll add it to our site. The local paper is writing an article.

This is also just the first part of this fridge. They're adding another pantry and an awning to cover it all.

Alright. This one is done. On to the next one!

#solarPunk #solarPunkSunday #freeFridge #foodSecurity #postScarcity #mutualAid

Here's some picture's for the concrete slab and electrical outlets for the new Free Fridge in town!

Note: Free fridges don't usually require this level of installation. As long as the fridge has power and a place to sit (even if its on a used pallet), thats good enough.

This church was given a donation with the stipulation that it go to serving the local community, and they decided to install a free fridge and put some infrastructure and accessibility behind it.

#solarPunk #mutualAid #freeFridge #foodSecurity #foodScarcity #postScarcity