The Love Fridge Chicago provides food to those in need through community-supported refrigerators and pantries throughout the city.
James Wurm and some of his friends started the organization after hearing a story about a community refrigerator in Brooklyn serving neighbors in need.
The organization opened its first Love Fridge in the Little Village neighborhood near the intersection of 21st and California in July of 2020.
Since then, every Friday around 10:30am, there's a frenzy of activity as people line up near the refrigerator and small pantry to get free food. That's where we caught up with Wurm on August 15th.
"Right now I’m distributing food," Wurm explained as he opened his car doors and trunk and a few of the people waiting, came over to help unload the donations.
There is a sense of community as the food is spread out on tables and placed in the pantry and refrigerator as those unpacking it also take what they need.
"Today I just brought massive boxes of lemons, a huge box of celery, broccoli, so a ton of produce, but as you can see, we have a lot of macaroni and cheese boxes. We’ve got lots of canned tomatoes, and green beans," explains Wurm as he watches the haul of goods dwindling.
"Unfortunately, everything gets cleared out pretty fast and that’s the state of almost every fridge," says Wurm who adds, "we have a slogan: 'take what you need, leave what you can.'"
A woman named Evelyn says she relies on the Love Fridge.
"I come every Friday and they give healthy food and I appreciate it. This is very, very good to the community and it helps a lot to the community because the vegetables and fruits are very, very expensive," she explains.
Evelyn says she so grateful because without it, she wouldn't be able to afford the fresh produce.
The Little Village refrigerator was the first in the Love Fridge Chicago network, but it currently has about 20 across the city, and Wurm says there are many ways people can help with their mission.
"The easiest thing to do is to drop off extra stuff in your pantry that you want to clear it out. The love fridge is a perfect place for that," he explains.
He adds, donations are always needed. "People do check the fridges very regularly, and when they see there’s food that can be claimed. They’ll take it. Which is great, and at the same time very regularly community members and neighbors will also be dropping off food into there," says Wurm.
People can find other ways to help and a map of fridge locations at thelovefridge.com.