The Circle City Mutual Aid (ccma) Free Food Box, affectionately known as the “Cutie,” officially debuted on June 1st. The first couple of weeks were slow in activity, with the box (located out front of Broad Ripple's local SoulShine Vegan Cafe) only needing refilled sporadically. Members of ccma were checking in on the Cutie about once a week. However, by mid-June, we began to notice that only certain foods were being taken by our neighbors--shelf-stable ready-2-eat meals, canned soups + stews, protein bars, beef jerky, canned vegetables with pop-top lids, and drinks. At this time, we started to check the Cutie twice a week. Toward the end of the month, our little free food box had become so popular that it started to empty out completely and more frequently!
He's our little hero after being refilled on June 22nd: However, by June 23rd, the Cutie looked like this:
Now that word has gotten out and usage of the free food box has increased, we are planning to restock the Cutie three times a week. In total, we have filled the Cutie nine times within the first month.
One member of our collective shared a podcast discussing a community fridge in the Bronx, NY, called The Friendly Fridge. The folks in that community made a good point - we do not have a scarcity problem, we have a distribution problem. We are excited that we have been able to help redistribute a basic necessity of life to our neighbors. That’s really what we are trying to do at the end of the day -- set up alternative structures of power within our own communities that prove we can take care of each other.
We are working on flyers so more neighbors can learn about the Cutie, whether they want to share food or if they are in need of food. Indianapolis currently has over 76 food boxes similar to the Cutie through Community Food Box Project, and a map of the locations can be found at https://www.communityfoodboxproject.org/locations. We would love to see additional free food boxes and fridges pop up all over the city so more communities can rebuild in more self-sustaining ways!
Of course, none of this would be possible without both one time and recurring donations. To date, we have raised over $1,200! The majority of our donations come from our sustaining monthly donors - many of whom are our organizers - in addition to our neighbors, friends, family, and spiritual communities. We are grateful for this community.
