Cover Story

Organizers of Worcester Community Fridges Maria Ravelli and Echo Louissaint pose in front of the fridge on Portland Street during its March 7 opening.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Worcester Community Fridges works to beat the heat this summer

Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

When Saket Lohia, longtime Worcester resident and owner of Fantastic Pizza, saw people stop at the restaurant asking for a free slice of pizza or a free bottle of water, he knew something had to be done. h “You always see that in Main South where people struggle just to get a drink of water when it’s hot outside — I see the lines in front of the food pantries of families with young children.” h What he did was donate the space for the first Worcester Community fridge on Main Street, having seen reports of the community fridge initiative on Mutual Aid Worcester Facebook page, begun by Maria Ravelli. It was installed in January. h Now he says, “whether it is 10 below or 100 degrees, it’s the most used fridge — I’ve seen it filled about 20 times and emptied as many times. It’s a bit heartbreaking to see people check the fridge and find it empty. Main South is the poorest area in Worcester so this is the real bottleneck, especially because it’s near bus stops.” SeeFRIDGES,Page12

Saket Lohia and Maria Ravelli stock the community fridge outside Fantastic Pizza, which he owns,

on Main South on June 11. ASHLEY GREEN PHOTOS/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Maria Ravelli cleans up trash near the community fridge outside Fantastic Pizza on Main South on June 11.

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A fourth community fridge opened June 5 at 16 Brooks St.

“We’re expanding, gearing up and preparing for the heat,” said Echo Louissaint, a key volunteer. “We’ve been suggesting that people put more drinking items in the fridge like water and Gatorade, out of consideration for those who don’t have their own refrigeration or even places to sleep.”

Louissaint, whose radio show, “Word from Echo and Friends” is broadcast on Unity Radio at 5 p.m. Tuesdays, also lamented the fact that there is not enough communication about the amazing things happening in Worcester. Her show touches on “everything about the community that people don’t know about and should know about or would want to know about,” she said.

She expects that the latest one on Brook Street, across from Kendrick Field, will be accessed by neighborhood kids this summer. It is on the property of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and marks “a fantastic partnership.” Factors that they take into consideration for de-

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termining the placement of the free fridges are bus access, foot traffic, handicapped and wheelchair accessible, and in communities in need.

With the heat, WCF is “not necessarily in crisis mode but certainly trying to be proactive,” said founder Maria Ravelli. This not only includes donation requests, such as more fruit and fewer dairy products, but maintaining the actual fridges themselves. “When we were first organizing, we tried to get any fridge in our price range,” said Ravelli, but now the organization is being more selective, searching for garage ready fridges that can withstand the weather year round.

While this may mean a higher initial investment upfront, in the long run, paying for a single, long-lasting appliance is more efficient than having to purchase multiple cheaper ones as they need to be replaced. “We learned that the hard way with Main Street,” said Ravelli. The search is underway to replace the original community fridge, but the organization intends to eventually update all four. Unfortunately, WCF has been informed that a nationwide fridge shortage means this will be easier said than done.

Wanda Alvarado Eaton, in her second week as a volunteer, is responsible for trips to Shaw’s in Webster Square on Tuesday mornings, to collect donations and distribute them to the fridges. Last week, they were given four boxes (one per fridge), which was a good haul but it fluctuates depending on the market. “It’s mainly from the clearance rack — it’s still good.” She said a number of agencies and individuals support the community fridges. “It’s a full fledged community effort — compassionate organizations that recognize that the food insecurity issue doesn’t just affect the homeless but working families as well.”

What allows community-led efforts to succeed is when members are personally invested and passionate about the cause. It’s real for them and more than just an abstract charity for an issue that only affects other people. It’s their issue. Alvarado Eaton remembers when she was raising her kids, how she depended on them going to school to get two meals a day and struggled to navigate the weekends. “They don’t give families enough food stamps to feed themselves or feed themselves healthy, anyways.” Even further back, she shared that “I was a runaway kid and remember walking into CVS to sneak soda and potato chips every morning for breakfast and that’s what I lived on.”

The initiative made sure to include basic safety measures, according to Louissaint, espe-

A woman unpacks broccoli for the Portland Street fridge. CHRISTINE PETERSON PHOTOS/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Brooklyn Flores, 13, who painted the artwork on the outside of the fridge at the Printer’s Building on Portland Street, was on hand to cut the blue ribbon for its March opening.

Lucy Barrett stocks the community fridge outside Fantastic Pizza on Main South on June 11.

ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE Lucy Barrett cleans out the community fridge outside Fantastic

Pizza on Main South on June 11. ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

City Manager Ed Augustus and Mayor Joe Petty wait in line to donate food food to the fridge in March. CHRISTINE PETERSON/

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cially since it came of age during the pandemic and they wanted to ensure that people felt safe enough to take food and leave food. There are hand sanitizers available and volunteers clean the fridges with bleach twice a day. While the interior of the fridge can be cleaned regularly, shelter for the exterior was also deemed important. Every fridge sits inside a shed; Howe Lumber in East Brookfield donated the wood to build the latest shed on Brook Street, and it was actually built by a community member. The lumber for the fridge shed on Main and Portland Street was donated by Northborough-based XL Studios, and the Southbridge Street enclosure was crowdfunded. Each fridge also has an attached pantry where non-refrigerated food items can be found.

While Ravelli, Louissaint and a small core group are leading the charge, the free fridge initiative is essentially community managed. The objective is for the community around the fridge location to monitor the contents and the immediate surroundings. Louissaint explained that the approximately 100 volunteers undertake about 30% of the organizational tasks and the rest is done by the residents of the area. The organization’s official Facebook group is updated almost in real time with photos showing which fridges are full, empty or need more (or maybe less) of a certain type of food.

Some food items that any fridge can never have too much of include; frozen meals, milk, eggs, grab’n go snacks, fruits, vegetables and frozen, precooked meats. Raw meats, items in glass jars, homemade meals or expired items are not accepted. Summer or winter, hot or cold, the community fridges are not only here to stay, but keep expanding. Four is only the beginning, and WCF intends to keep setting up fridges where they’re needed most.

Contact info and donation information is available at www.worcestercommunityfridges.com. For more information email Worcestercommunityfridges@gmail.com or call (508) 244-1770.