The Worcester Community Fridges is a community-led mutual aid effort based in Central Massachusetts. Mutual aid looks like neighbors working together to meet each other’s needs. Mutual aid efforts amplify the power and tap into the abundance that has always existed within our communities.

This annual update is required by our fiscal sponsor, Open Collective Foundation, and allows us to reflect on some of the organizing work this past year. As last year’s update covered January - November 2022, this year’s update will cover November 2022 - December 2023.

We hope this update offers a window into how the Woo Fridges are organized, the community connections we cultivate, and the care and joy that sustains this work. We also want to note that this update is only part of the story: the Fridges are sustained through the love of a much broader network of neighbors who clean, fill, shop, and share food at the fridges 24/7/365. Thank you to everyone who has shared love at the fridges this year!

Big-Picture Reflections on 2023: “Like an electrical current that reactivates a stopped heart, crisis can create a social defibrillation that re-enlivens our connectedness to other human beings and allows our compassion, imaginations, and political will to flow more freely. This is why protests, mutual aid projects, and innovative new modes of connection and support emerge rapidly in the most perilous times. As organizers, we must learn to conjure that social electricity even in relatively “normal” times.” - Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, Let This Radicalize You.

As we reflect on a third year of organizing with the Worcester Community Fridges, we are energized by the ways that neighbors across the city continue to pour love into the fridges. Being a neighbor-led initiative, Woo Fridge is not formally supported by the City of Worcester or the Worcester County Food Bank. We are a group of neighbors who channel our collective energy toward meeting each other’s needs by finding ways to share food freely. As you will read below, fridgie work is powered by the people: everything we do is in community with other neighbors, whether it is organizing food pick-ups, sharing information about the fridge, creating artwork for the fridge, building new enclosures, or cooking meals for neighbors. Last month, when we paused to write down all that we had accomplished and sustained together, we were amazed. We hope reading about all the exciting work that happened this year at the fridges will also be sustaining and energizing for you!

Snack Funds: Dr. Facilier once sang, “It’s the green, it’s the green, it’s the green you need. And when I look into your future, it’s the green that I see.” So far this year, we have raised over $50,690 through our platform on Open Collective!

  

Building Community in Worcester: In 2023, we started our monthly fridge fairy meet-ups! On the first Saturday of every month, we gather at Mint Kitchen and Bar to make sandwiches, share updates, and connect with other neighbors who engage with the Worcester Community Fridges. We have also started inviting community organizations to present and share information about their work. This fall, we welcomed AIDS Project Worcester for a Narcan training and Promoting Good for an open discussion on navigating burnout in community work. 

 

We also love opportunities to share snacks and information about the fridges. This year, we got to table at several community events, including The Village’s Saturday Marketplace, Worcester Bazaar, Black Heritage - Juneteenth Festival, Worcester Caribbean American Carnival, Poet’s Cauldron, Clark University’s Community Engagement Fair, Burncoat Center for Arts and Wellness’ Bloom Fest, the Downtown Worcester Business Improvement District’s Winter Festival, Pride Worcester 2023, Worcester Public Library’s Block Party, Division of Youth Opportunity - Color the City 3, Saturday Mercado, New England Veg Fest, Art in the Park, REC Saturday Farmers Market & more! 

P.S. Check out long-time fridge fairy, Pat, with our extra cute tabling setup - everything was either thrifted or handmade by neighbors! 

 

Building and Sustaining Food Partnerships: It takes a community to fill the fridge! Since the first fridge opened in January 2021, Woo Fridge has built connections with local mutual aid efforts, community-based organizations, businesses, and individuals who regularly share love with the fridges. In 2023, we continued to grow new partnerships and work with existing food partners to fill the fridge.

A huge thank you to the many community members from across Worcester County who work together to organize pick-ups from food partners each week!

Supporting Mutual Aid and Emergency Response Efforts: We love organizing in ways that expand the capacity of mutual aid efforts and local organizations across the city. This year, we were able to share resources with neighbors as they organized to keep each other safe, fed, and warm during the winter. 

Fridge Updates: Maintenance is a huge part of fridge organizing. Whether it is working with hosts to set-up and build new enclosures, replacing a fridge, or updating an enclosure, we work collaboratively with neighbors across the city to keep the fridges running.

  Union Hill, Brooks, and Portland got upgrades!

 
 Worcester artists keep the fridges looking classy!

What’s next for the Worcester Community Fridges? Each year brings new organizing adventures, and we look forward to the following in 2024.

How can I get in on all this goodness? We’re glad you asked! Our online community is always growing and is a great way for you to get involved: