Community Fridges in Asheville

In an ideal world everybody would have access to clean, healthy food and there would be an abundance of it. However, we don't. That's where community fridges come in. Different then a soup kitchen or tiny pantry, community fridges allow for perishable food to be donated and accessed easily for anybody in need of free food. More often than not they are outside and have a small shelter built around them. They're also commonly painted or decorated to give the fridge some flair and also signal that it is a community fridge. 

In Asheville we currently have two community fridges. One being run by Southside Community Farm which is a BIPOC owned and operated farm located at 133 Livingston St. Asheville, NC 28801. They are an organization that uses organic practices and sustainable agriculture techniques based in traditional African and Indigenous knowledge. They sell a lot of this food at farmers markets, but they also use it to provide food to the community fridge, as well as purchase other staples they don't produce. The intention behind this is that the Southside neighborhood is historically a BIPOC neighborhood and it does not feature a grocery store of its own. Then community fridge provides free healthy options to the individuals in need and in the area for free. In 2022 they grew over 1000 pounds of food for the community fridge alone, and they also donated produce to the other community fridge in the Asheville area - Free Fridge AVL.

Free Fridge AVL is located at 382 South French Broad Ave and popped up in July of 2022. They have a dry pantry and hygiene section that accompanies the fridge portion. They take Venmo donations from the community to help fund the food they can fill the fridge with. You can also sign up for designated drop off times if you would like to donate actual food instead of funds.