#foodsecurity

Update on my Food Rescue Initiative for my local town!!! Two Things. One, I've been getting hooked up with the local mutual aid crowd in my town and met some wonderful people recently!!! One of them is an organizer and is very very interested in creating more Free Fridges throughout town annnnnnd is very interested in setting up a Food Rescue program! So her and I have been teaming up to get it done. Two, we just had a meeting with a national (United States) group that has their own web app for coordinating between food contributors (the places that create the food and would otherwise throw out the good food that wasn't sold), food distributors, and the gleaners / volunteers who connect the two... basically logistics. It was a good meeting and we may start to work under their aegis. We're doing a technical demo of the web app this week hopefully. If we decide to go with them, I'll put the update here. I'm excited!!! #solarPunk #foodRescue #foodSecurity

Ok! Had a technical demo of the web app for food rescue. I think we're going to go with them. Solid desktop app that scales well for mobile. Its a lightweight org with a small budget but they're doing a lot with it. Feature rich currently and does everything i need it to do so far as coordinating between the food rescue sites, the food distribution sites, and the gleaners connecting the two. Once we get it up and running officially, i'll post it here. #foodRescue #foodSecurity #mutualAid #solarPunk #postScarcity

While waiting for the paperwork to go through for that national food rescue org, I'm still going to do food rescue manually. Another donut haul! I dont know how many donuts. Lost count. Anyhow. had to find space in the free fridge for it. Folks had added even more fresh veggies and bread and salads, so I had to get creative making room for my deserts. 😅 Edit: Ignore the lighting in the fridge. It was night time and I used a flash. Makes things weird colors. Anyhoo. #freeFridge #foodRescue #mutualAid #solarPunk #postScarcity #foodSecurity

Great News!!! We got approved to work with https://foodrescue.us !!! This gives us access to their coordination software and web app for free! We can use the app to sign up food contributors & food distributors. Then volunteers can sign up to pick up from one and drop off to the other (basically logistics). We can also operate under their aegis which gives us local credibility and also allows us to use their 501c3 non-profit status. So anyone donating to us can use it as a tax writeoff. They also provide our donors/contributors with quarterly and yearly statements for tax purposes. There's some other offerings, but thats the chunk! A food rescue group from DC has already reached out to us to offer support and guidance! It'll take around a week to get onboarded and then we'll start using it to scale out. #foodRescue #foodSecurity #mutualAid #solarPunk

Massive Update on the Food Rescue front!!! We worked out the contract issues with Food Rescue US (FRUS - https://foodrescue.us)and we just signed the contract! We can now begin the rescue efforts in earnest!!! This is MASSIVE!!! This initiative started last November,, and while it's had a couple of obstacles, five months from conception to group formation to joining with a national org isn't that long. We're also going to be joining Food Rescue Alliance (FRA - https://www.boulderfoodrescue.org/food-rescue-alliance/) They're a US based national "mutual aid of mutual aids" sort of thing. So we can join other food rescue groups and learn from each other. I'd like to see if there's a state group to join as well. If not, I'd like to start one up. A lot of laws and regulations are state based and learning from other groups in our state would be amazing. Soooo!!!! Expect some more updates in the coming weeks. I'm so excited!!!! #solarPunk #mutualAid #foodRescue #postScarcity #foodSecurity

Today's food rescue: a bunch of submarine sandwiches from a local cafe! Stuck em in the free fridge. #solarPunk #mutualAid #foodRescue #foodSecurity #postScarcity #freeFridge

Momentous Update on the Food Rescue Program!!! We got our first food rescue!!!! Like official. In the app! Not an adhoc one. And it wasnt me who set this up! Another organizer got our first grocer. I put the route into the app and opened it up for volunteers. And a community member picked it up!!!!! We are rescuing food from a grocer and delivering to a free fridge! Calling it: November 14th of last year (2024) - to now (June 10th 2025). 7 months from idea conception to a formal route / food rescue between a food seller and a food distributor. (With founding a mutual aid group, to growing it, to partnering with a national food rescue org - yay Food Rescue US! - to meeting with a grocer and connecting them to a free fridge all in between) Now it's time to scale.... #solarPunk #mutualAid #foodSecurity #postScarcity #foodRescue #foodRescueUS #freeFridge

On the Post-Scarcity Food front. My local group, which covers Free Fridges, Food Rescue, and Indoor Food Gardening - we just got interviewed my our town's local newspaper. Which is cool. We're starting to get noticed and more and more folks are joining the group organically. The group currently has around 65 members in the discord chat. 80ish members (much overlap) on the email newsgroup. We have around 10 folks that have signed up for the food rescue app. And we get 5 to 15 folks in person and via zoom for the monthly meetings. We have a core very active group of around 6 folks with lots of folks hanging in the wing to help as needed. And we have intentionally NOT recruited or let folks know about us (beyond a couple local events), as we wanted to get some things in place first. I wanted to make sure that volunteers weren't met with a ghost town, right. I wanted to get the infrastructure in place first. Well it's in place. And we have some initial food rescues. And some more coming down the pipe. And some irons in the fire for new free fridge placements. And the library and food bank is asking us to put together coursework and programming around growing your own food indoors. So. For as much as I'm fucking nervous, lol. It's time to really start growing.... fuuuuck. Ha! Funny thing. I was arguing caution and hoping for another month or two before really branching out and a fellow coordinator pushed back and said, fuck that, let's go now!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!! I'm being scared and I've been called out, HAHAHA!!! Which is good. I needed a swift kick in the ass. (honestly, if I hung back too much, this other person would have just gone ahead and done it. I am NOT the only decision maker here, even if I was the one to get it started).. Alright. Fine. Let's do it, HAHAHAHA!!!!! Oooooh.... this is happening. Shiiiit!!! Failure is scary. But success is downright terrifying. #solarPunk #mutualAid #foodSecurity #freeFridge #foodRescue

The article for my town's Free Fridge, Food Rescue, and Indoor Food Gardening group just came out! You can read the article here: https://fredericksburg.com/news/local/article_49e5b911-4f2a-41a1-b735-a0ddc09e3937.html (Non-paywalled archive: https://archive.is/AjYvg ) Goes into detail on our efforts to build out Free Fridges throughout town, conduct Food Rescue, and to help folks garden their food indoors. Even interviews the local food bank and discusses our cooperative partnerships with them as well! #solarPunk #foodRescue #indoorGardening #hydroponics #foodSecurity #foodBank #freeFridge #mutualAid

Really great news!!! A local bakery that specializes in gluten free bread, pastries, and cakes reached out to us... ...we didn't reach out to them. They contacted us!... ...about doing food rescue with them! Not only are they looking at food rescue in general, but they're specifically looking at serving those that are hungry AND have food allergies and intolerances! Everyone deserves healthy, tasty, good, and safe food (and also desserts!!!) - even those that have food constraints. So we worked it out. Every day they take whatever they didn't sell and freeze it. We come by once a week and pick it up and run it to one of the fridges! Look at this first haul!!! #foodRescue #foodSecurity #solarPunk #freeFridge #goodNews

A couple updates (all good news) on the Free Fridges:

• Others in my group have taken lead on the free fridges and community pantries. This is amazing as it indicates that my group has grown and is empowered enough that they dont need me to direct them. I’m still involved, but I’m focusing on building out the food rescue side of the house

• Both fridges are going strong! Many neighbors, people we’ve never met, are stocking the fridge. Other neighbors are utilizing it. And many contribute AND utilize. The infrastructure is working!

• A couple other places in town have expressed interest in hosting more fridges! So we’re in talks with them. Irons in the fire! The program is getting noticed and is expanding.

• Lastly (pictured), I installed some grocery bag dispensers at each site. Folks can put in their used “single-use” grocery bags and others can take those and use them to fill up and carry food they utilize from the free fridges!

#freeFridge #solarPunk #mutualAid #foodSecurity

We discussed my ability (and willingness) to attempt cooking food again. My relative bought some ingredients and we had an incredible #Indian dish one night (can't recall the name, apologies!) all made in the rice cooker from start to finish. Amazing!!! ❤️ 23/x #MealPrep #FoodSecurity #Inflation #poverty #accessibility #disability

There are a lot of resources on Free Fridges and Community Pantries.

The Freedge group has a wonderful site that has resources for finding fridges in your neighborhood or installing new ones:

• Freedge: https://freedge.org/
• Starting a Free Fridge in your Town: https://freedge.org/freedge-yourself/
• Map of current Free Fridges: https://freedge.org/locations/

Some folks have had questions or concerns as it relates to Free Fridges. I have posted my answer to a couple of them below:

Worry about folks “taking advantage” of free food @tinker@infosec.exchange

Worry about tainted food being placed in the fridge? @tinker@infosec.exchange

Do free fridge initiatives even work? @tinker@infosec.exchange

I’ll add to this post in the future if I find other resources.

#freeFridge #foodScarcity #foodSecurity #postScarcity #solarPunk #mutualAid

Well this is amazing!!!

We just got our first host that wants to put up a Free Fridge!!!!

I was going to put in a post of how we have multiple leads out and various irons in the fire, but dang, this one came quick! We’ve been talking to various folks for the past couple of months and there have been various interest, but nothing has been set in stone yet.

So, I posted a couple weeks ago how our Free Fridge and Food Rescue group got featured in the local town paper ( @tinker@infosec.exchange ) . Turns out various folks read it and were interested, both in the food rescue and in the free fridge aspect.

We have one free fridge in town hosted by a local community garden, but that is completely run by them. We help keep it clean and we help stock and utilize it, but my group was created to build other free fridges throughout town.

And sure enough, a local church read the article and came to our monthly meeting. They invited us to go to their church and tour it and see what they were doing.

They’re a small church that is heavy in working with the Food Bank and doing distributions. They recently received a generous donation with the request that the money be used for community service. They’re going to source the refrigerator, pantry, and even build out an area to provide cover and a walkway to it.

The location is great. It’s accessible via public transit (such that we have here). It’s decently walkable and the city is putting in improvements in the next year. They have a good parking lot and a location that is accessible to the public 24/7.

So I’ve put together a little project plan:

• Go onsite and create rough site plan: Designate location. Measure out area for concrete slab, awning, and potentially walkway
• Get estimates for outside electrical outlet installation, concrete slab / walkway construction, and awning construction
• Contact appropriate municipality / county to sort out any requirements or approvals
• Complete construction
• Source and install fridge and pantry
• Open to community & advertise new location

The head of their food missions has already sourced and purchased the refrigerator. So wow. Next step will be to go back onsite and do a rough site plan. Basically measure out the spot and sort out the concrete pad dimensions.

This is the first time I’ve done this… so I’ll be learning along the way and documenting it for other sites (hopefully) in the future.

This is amazing. Our first fridge for our group and the second for my region!!!

#freeFridge #foodScarcity #foodSecurity #postScarcity #solarPunk #mutualAid

Alright! Site plan for the new free fridge is completed. They're laying down a concrete slab and really setting this up! This host has received a generous donation and is actually spending money on setting up a free fridge. I love it! Next steps will be getting an electrician to come out and put in some outlets. Need to check with the county to see if we need building permits as we're laying down concrete and putting up a little structure to protect against sun and rain. The host is VERY excited and is eager to get this built in the next couple of months. And new great news! Other churches and organizations are getting wind of this and are looking into setting up their own fridges for their own neighborhoods!!!! #solarPunk #mutualAid #freeFridge #foodSecurity