Hope Fridge finds hosts in Neenah and Oshkosh to help anyone who needs food -

NEENAH - Hope Fridge opened the first community refrigerator in the Fox Cities last month to assist people experiencing food insecurity, and organizers said the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

The fridge is located within a colorful wooden shelter at the Neenah home of Danae Steele and Marijke van Roojen, 428 Ninth St. Two more community fridges are in the works in Oshkosh.

Hope Fridge is a mutual aid project that provides, maintains and stocks community fridges in the Fox Valley for people in need of food. Steele and van Roojen provided the land, installed the electrical line and pay the electrical bills. The fridge, along with an adjacent pantry for nonperishable goods, is stocked by volunteers.

It's open 24 hours a day, and there's no paperwork required to obtain food.

"You don't need to prove need," Tj Hobbs, founder and director of Hope Fridge, told The Post-Crescent. "We are of the mindset that people know what they need. We're not here to tell them what they need. We're not here to limit what they can get for help."

Community fridges are in operation in Milwaukee, Madison and elsewhere, but Hobbs got the inspiration for Hope Fridge from The Love Fridge in Chicago.

"They are very knowledgeable and more than willing to share that knowledge with any community fridge project that reaches out to them for help," Hobbs said. "They have 70 fridges in Chicago that are outside and functioning at any given time."

The Neenah Hope Fridge opened on June 20. Steele said it's been a hive of activity since then, both by people donating food and by people coming to get food.

"I was really shocked by how many people seem to need this in our community," Steele said. "It's getting a lot of traffic."

Hope Fridge already plans to expand to two locations in Oshkosh: one at Bowenstreet Repeats thrift store, 2837 Bowen St., and one at Wagner Market, 502 N. Main St.

The initial refrigerator in Neenah was an older model that couldn't keep up in the extreme summer heat. It was replaced earlier this week with a new fridge that was funded by donations. The older model will be taken to Bowenstreet Repeats, where it will be kept inside to avoid the summer heat.

"Folks who are visiting the shop can get food and bring it home for free," Hobbs said. "They also will host an outdoor pantry that will be available 24/7."

Hope Fridge works with a fiscal host, Open Collective Foundation, to manage its finances. Monetary donations to Hope Fridge are tax-deductible and have come from more than 50 people. The donors are listed on the organization's website.

"You can see who's funding this," Hobbs said. "It's your neighbors. It's your friends."

Hope Fridge has guidelines for donating food.

"We've made rules to say, 'Please don't give us anything you wouldn't feel comfortable giving a friend or family member,'" Hobbs said. "We don't take or want half-eaten food. We don't want half-drank milk."

Volunteers are scheduled to clean the fridge and to ensure the food is fresh and kept at a safe temperature.

Donations have kept up with need so far. Hobbs said people are naturally generous and self-regulating.

"People just know where they are on the spectrum of society as far as if they are someone who can give or take right now," Hobbs said. "We trust them to figure it out, and it's really worked beautifully."

Steele said the goal is to make it easy for people experiencing food insecurity to get the food they need.

"No humiliation. No standing in line. No filling out forms," she said. "No having to explain to somebody why you need food. I think those things dissuade people from getting the help they need sometimes."

Because it's open around the clock, people can show up at 2 a.m. to get food.

Milk, eggs, bread, pasta, deli meats, vegetables, fruit, diapers and baby formula are among the items that might be in a community fridge. Steele and van Roojen grew more lettuce than they can eat, so they bagged it up and donated it.

Hobbs would like to see a community fridge "in every city that needs one" and is willing to empower others to set them up. For now, though, Hobbs wants to ensure that the Neenah and Oshkosh locations are sustainable.

"I don't want it to grow bigger than what is safe and manageable," Hobbs said.

A group called Appleton Community Catalysts is looking for someone to host community fridges in Appleton.

"We've reached out to a few different churches that are located in places that are convenient for schools," project organizer Siri Lokensgard said. "We're discussing it also with a church downtown. Once we know the number of fridges that we will be able to install, then we will start looking for donations."

Lokensgard said the shelters for the outdoor fridges would replicate the design of the Neenah Hope Fridge.

The Neenah fridge initially was placed adjacent to the sidewalk along Nicolet Boulevard. That violated city setback requirements for accessory buildings, so it was relocated on a brick path 25 feet from the sidewalk. Organizers worked with the Department of Community Development to bring the project into compliance.

"We've allowed the little libraries on the right of way," said Brad Schmidt, Neenah's deputy director of community development, "but this is certainly something that's a little bit more intensive. That's where we had to stick to those setback regulations."

https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/2021/07/21/community-fridge-neenah-helps-anyone-who-needs-food/7977820002/