Besides food pantries, dining halls and home delivery, another way Bay Area organizations get meals to hungry people is through public community refrigerators. On the plus side, these allow donors to make drop-offs at their convenience and let recipients pick up food when they need it, with some degree of anonymity. On the downside, some local leaders and health departments have expressed concern about rotting food and other sanitary issues, as well as the risk that small children could get trapped inside. Nonetheless, several Northern California organizations have figured out how to keep their fridges safe, clean and filled with fresh, healthy food.

Freedge: The concept was introduced in 2014 at UC Davis when a group of graduate students led by Ernst Oehninger was studying ways to prevent food waste. Operating under the university’s Food Loss and Waste Collaborative, they introduced “the freedge,” public refrigerators used to share food at a neighborhood level. The idea spread, and now the organization’s database lists hundreds all over the globe. The website offers tips on starting a freedge, including how to get permits and follow local health and food safety laws. For more information, visit freedge.org

Community Kitchens and Town Fridges: This organization sprang out of the COVID pandemic, when Rick Mitchell and Maria Alderete, the owners of Luka’s Taproom in Oakland, were looking for a way to keep their staff employed. In 2020, the couple launched Community Kitchens, a nonprofit that took donations to prepare meals for the homeless. Since then, Luka’s has gone out of business, but Community Kitchens lives on, offering culinary job training and collaborating with chefs and community-based food-distribution partners to fight food insecurity, as they prepare 4,000 delicious and nutritious meals a week at its central kitchen, where meals are served there 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays. Other prepared meals are distributed through nonprofits or are placed in Town Fridges, community fridges located around Oakland and Berkeley. You can donate, or sign up to be a kitchen volunteer or home chef at ckoakland.org

Martha’s Kitchen and Santa Clara County fridges: The county and Joint Venture Silicon Valley have collaborated with the nonprofit Martha’s Kitchen and housing partners for this project. Joint Venture’s Food Recovery Initiative installed four fridges at affordable housing sites in San Jose and Palo Alto, and Martha’s Kitchen stocks them with fresh produce, shelf-stable groceries and ready-to-eat meals. Donate to or volunteer with Martha’s Kitchen at marthaskitchen.org