Community fridge opens at Y

The Red Oak community has a new way to help people maintain food security.
Earlier in March, a community fridge was installed at the Montgomery County Family YMCA at 101 E. Cherry St. It’s the first of its kind in Southwest Iowa.
Laura Kloewer with Montgomery County Memorial Hospital and Live Well Montgomery County is one of the volunteers who helped spearhead the project. Kloewer said she was inspired to bring one to Red Oak after having seen success stories from other parts of the state.
“Community fridges started to become popular during COVID, but they’re all over the state of Iowa. There’s a group out of Des Moines that put together a toolkit of how to start one, but they’re all over the country and all over the state of Iowa. We decided that if Des Moines can have them and if eastern Iowa can have them, why couldn’t we have one here?” Kloewer asked.
Kloewer said a community fridge helps get food into the hands of people who need it and also eliminates food waste.
“We all may have things in our pantry that we’re not going to eat, or we may have leftovers, or we may have excess food that would otherwise get thrown away that we could share with other people, but it’s hard to find them. And so the community fridge serves as a go-between for people who are looking for a little bit of extra food support and people who have some food to share,” commented Kloewer. “It’s not at all like a traditional food pantry in the sense that anyone can drop off things and anyone can come and utilize it. A lot of times, food pantries have restrictions around how often people can use it or if they have to be from a certain area or what can be donated. A community fridge is a little bit different because anyone can donate to it and anyone can come and utilize it. If you have a graduation party and you have 100 mini quiches left over that no one’s going to eat or half of a sheet cake, you could bring that to the community fridge and drop it off and someone could come get it and that food would get used instead of thrown away.”
Kloewer added there are some restrictions on the food people can bring. Only donate food that is fresh or before its use by date; no partially eaten food is allowed, only donate cooked and refrigerated or frozen food that hasn’t been eaten off of; older items should be taken first, donate food because you don’t need it, not because it’s inedible; all foods must be sealed to prevent contamination; and prepared foods must be labeled with the date made. All prepared food will be disposed of after 7 days. Do not donate expired, moldy, or spoiled food, unlabeled homemade food, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
Another benefit of the community fridge, Kloewer said, is that it provides another opportunity for people who may have problems but are unwilling or unable to go to a food pantry for assistance.
“Not only can it sometimes feel really challenging to go to the food pantry if that’s not something you’ve ever done before, but also the hours don’t always align with people’s schedules. We plan to keep the community fridge open 24-7. So if you’re someone who works a 12-hour shift during the day and can’t get away during the hours the food pantry is open, but you need a little extra this month, you could stop at the community fridge and pick something up after work,” advised Kloewer. “Also, it’s not going to be able to feed a family of four for a week. It’s more of a resource just to get you through. As an example, we have quite a few cans of soup out there that someone donated. There’s some milk, a loaf of bread, some oatmeal, some yogurts. It’s not going to fill your fridge for a week, but it might help you get through or might help subsidize what you need. Als I said before, it’s also just a place to share what you might not eat. We’ve had a jar of mustard barbecue sauce, and maybe somebody got that and they didn’t really like it as much. So they decided to share it. If you get something and you end up not really liking it, instead of throwing those things away, you could donate it to the community fridge.”
Kloewer added the community fridge is made possible by Live Well Montgomery County and grants written by the Red Oak Elks Lodge #1304, and a grant from WellPoint. Other assistance was provided my Montgomery County Memorial Hospital and Clinics, the YMCA, Pat Lewis Trucking, LLC, and the Red Oak Fire Department. The shed itself was constructed by Red Oak Mini Barns, and the fridge was donated by the hospital. The public helped decide where the fridge is located.
“Live Well Montgomery County is a local nonprofit. We’re closely affiliated with Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, but we have partnerships throughout the county and the YMCA is obviously a huge partner because they’re letting us use their land here. We actually did a community poll last fall when we were working on putting the idea together and the project together, and we got tremendous support. It was the most positive post I think I’ve seen on Red Oak Talk of the Town. We had more than 200 people participate in a survey on the location. So that’s how we decided on where to put the community fridge. We also did a community survey in Villisca too and Red Oak had more participation, so we decided to use this as our pilot location. We’re hoping eventually we could get them throughout Montgomery County, but this is our pilot location. And then the Elks reached out to partner on a food insecurity initiative and that’s kind of how it started,” stated Kloewer.
Also, the group has implemented a volunteer signup. Those signed up will check on the fridge. It is also under video surveillance. Volunteers check for food that’s expired and needs to be thrown away, tidy things up, make sure everything looks good. So far, around four months of fridge check slots have been filled by volunteers.
The shed itself is from Red Oak Mini Barns. The fridge inside was donated by the hospital. Levi Kinnison at the fire department has also been helping serve as another set of eyes in the location to keep tabs on the fridge and check on it. While there’s plenty of space for cold or prepared food, Kloewer said the space is open to other things.
“We’ve got shelves in there for things that don’t need to go in the refrigerator, such as shelf-stable items. Over the summer, we’re anticipating using it a lot for community garden donations as an extra place to drop off produce. It’s exciting,” Klower said.
While seeing the fridge installed was very memorable, it was what she found the next day that was the most touching.
“It was pretty emotional when I came the next day and there was already a donation, and that somebody had already brought something to share. I’ve checked on it almost every day since it’s opened, just because I’m curious. And to see the flow of food going in and out is really tremendous. We had a patient that we were able to refer down to it that needed a little extra. It’s nice to have a place where we can refer people. We initially were hoping to have it up by Thanksgiving. That obviously didn’t happen. These projects always take a little longer than what you want them to. But it’s something we’ve talked about for years. And to finally have the funding come together, to have the groups come together who are willing to help with it, has been amazing,” Kloewer commented.
While food donations are more than welcome, Kloewer said donations can be made in other ways as well.
“We have a fund currently set aside to manage ongoing maintenance, and that kind of thing. If somebody wants to support the project monetarily, there’s always ways that we can utilize that. There’ll be ongoing needs for supplies, and we’d like to maybe eventually add a freezer. Right now, it’s just a fridge. So there are ways that we could grow the project. If they want to assist, the best thing to do is reach out to me up at the hospital at 623-6491. There’s also a cell phone number where you can text that’s listed at the community fridge if they want to reach out that way,” advised Kloewer.
Brad Baker, with the Red Oak Elks Lodge, said they were pleased to share a $6,000 grant for the project.
“Laura’s always got projects that she takes on. The community gets behind them, but sometimes not on page one. I always like to see what she’s got going on because we’ve got good things out ahead of us if she’s involved. So we’ve worked together on a few projects with the community garden and things that way. We did a community improvement grant through Elks National, which is returning tens of thousands of dollars to our community versus what we send in. It’s a great program. They do scholarships and these community grants.”
Baker said it was when they were doing site prep that he realized the project was going to be a reality, and he’s pleased with its success.
“It really kind of hit when we were doing a little bit of landscape work getting ready. We had a spot, and we had people involved. Then seeing the first few posts, the day one surprise that she had food in it before she knew. That’s cool stuff. That’s Red Oak. While this fridge is new for Southwest Iowa, I’ve shared the information with my seven lodges that I’m responsible for there. All seven communities are very interested. Once they see the success build a little bit, I think it will expand,” stated Baker.
Klower said that the community fridge will fill an important need in the community.
“Sometimes that need is unseen, especially in small towns. Sometimes we don’t realize the people that are struggling, and sometimes it’s only for a short period of time. We have a lot of other food programs and we have a lot of things going. Sometimes just a little bit of help can go a long way. And having a space now where people can share and also people can receive that help is just tremendous. We’re very grateful to everyone who helped make this project possible,” Kloewer explained.
You can follow the Red Oak Community Fridge Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/1513776772627665.