Every Tuesday as part of our Community Changers series, we shine a light on people and organizations making a positive impact in our community.
This week, we caught up with a group that provides free food in food deserts.
“We know that people aren’t getting paid livable wages. We know that rent is increasing tremendously for a lot of people. They’re having a hard time finding houses. Utilities are going up. Groceries are getting more expensive,” LJ Abraham said.
LJ Abraham is the founder of 901 Community Fridges, a nonprofit program providing stocked refrigerators and food pantries in underserved neighborhoods.
We caught up with LJ at the Binghamton Community Church.
“This is one of the primary locations that we serve. People that don’t have access to healthy foods. They only have access to gas stations,” LJ said.
LJ puts a call out on their Facebook page if a fridge is empty.
“We have a few groups that are weekly donors and they’ll come and stock the fridge fully,” LJ said. “It also gets emptied pretty quickly too because there is a huge need for people to have access to food in our city.”
We met Ross Rives at their location at Trinity Church on South Highland. A carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, Ross, along with other volunteers, builds shelters for the refrigerators to help protect them from the elements.
“Six to ten hours by the time they’re all fabricated. Materials are purchased, preassembled, and then brought out and assembled on the location,” Ross said.
They know it’s sometimes difficult to make it to food banks or food giveaways so their fridges are available 24/7.
Making sure your neighbors have access to food when they might not be able to afford it is essential. That is why our anonymous donor wanted to give 901 Community Fridges $1,000.
901 Community Fridges is a true community changer.
If you would like to learn more about 901 Community Fridges, visit their Facebook.
If you know an organization making a positive impact in our community, visit the Community Changers page to nominate them.
