As a child, I was fed rice and beans almost every night. From what I've gathered, so was every other child of Caribbean, Latinx or African descent. Every night after my parents finished eating, they would leave me and my siblings at the kitchen table to finish on our own. We would look at each other trying to find new ways to make the food disappear. Anywhere besides in our mouths that is. My older brother would chew one grain of rice at a time. One of his many forms of silent protest. One night he decided he was done. He was through with rice and beans cooked in the form of torture. He got up from the table and cleared every grain off his plate behind the oven and left to go watch tv. My sister and I, in disbelief, wouldn't follow, but were in solidarity enough to not tell on him. After a week of throwing his rice and beans behind the stove my Mom finally discovered it while cleaning. And rightfully, she was furious.
My family still retells this story often and now, decades later, my mother can laugh about it. The memories and stories we share around food are important. No one should have to question where their next quality meal is coming from. Every child should have enough, that they feel bold enough to throw it behind the oven.
All light memories aside, food insecurity is at an all time high. In the years since the pandemic began, New York has seen its highest rates of food insecurity. When I read articles detailing the alarming rates of food insecurity in our own neighborhoods, I felt helpless to how I could effect any change. I was inspired when I began to see community fridges popping up around Brooklyn and immediately felt compelled to contribute. Even though I often questioned whether or not I was leaving the right items in the fridge.
In this exploration of MORE GIVING, I was thrilled to speak with the founder of One Love Community Fridge, Asmeret Berhe-Lumax to get a better sense of how we can all take ownership of our local community fridges. Asmeret started One Love Community Fridge in June of 2020 to help bring easy access to free, fresh, wholesome food to neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan via a network of community refrigerators. One Love Community Fridge works to eradicate hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition, and the stigma associated with all three.
The best advice Asmeret gave was to treat the fridges as our own. Clean them out as we would our own. Add fresh produce and goods that we would be proud to feed our own families.
It might just be semantics, but I believe taking ownership of our local community fridges allows us to do so much more than "give back" to our communities. Rather, it truly allows us to "become apart of" them.
To learn more about OLCF, find a fridge near you, or learn about how you can volunteer visit their website at www.onelovecommunityfridge.org or email hello@onelovecommunityfridge.org
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