OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The free community pantry, Hope Fridge, returns to Oshkosh, leaning on individuals in the community to help solve food insecurity.
- Hope Fridge is a Fox Valley non-profit that has free community pantries in Menasha and Oshkosh.
- Community members and non-profit leaders celebrated the opening of the Hope Fridge pantry with a ribbon-cutting event on Thursday.
- The pantry is meant to be barrier-free and is open 24/7, 365 days a year.
On Thursday morning, dozens of community members came to a ribbon-cutting event at Trinity Episcopal Church in Oshkosh. They celebrated the return of the community Hope Fridge.
"I never would have imagined, never, when we started our first fridge, the number of people that have nothing to do with each other, come out for each other," Lukas Shelton, co-founder of Hope Fridge, said at the event.
Watch the broadcast story here:
Shelton said he started Hope Fridge because of his own experience with homelessness.
"I spent a few years in my early 20s homeless, and it was really hard to find food, even with food pantries, it was hard," he said. "It’s something that stuck with me. That was almost 20 years ago, and it stuck with me until now."
The Hope Fridge builds free community pantries. They have one on Broad Street in Menasha, and now another at Trinity Episcopal Church on Algoma Boulevard in Oshkosh.
"Making sure people get fed is a core part of our mission," Chris Corbin, director of the church, said at the event. “People who have critical needs right now are able to have it taken care of.”
The pantries are filled with hygiene products and fresh food, and there are no requirements or barriers to use them.
“It’s really a no-questions-asked," Shelton said. "If you need it, we have it. Please take it. If you can afford to donate back, please do.”
The pantry is stocked, not by one organization, but by individuals like Drew Thibodeaux, who came to stock the pantry on opening day.
"We gathered as much stuff as we had just lying around," Thibodeaux said.
It's mutual aid- neighbor helping neighbor.
“All being able to step up and say, everyone deserves access to food," Corbin said. "People who are in the midst of ongoing food insecurity are able to have that food, while we as a community rally around a more systemic solution."
As many non-profits face an uncertain future of federal funding, Thibodeaux says mutual aid like this is needed more than ever.
"It’s the most important thing, in this historic moment, that we as a community can do to ensure that people are not suffering."
