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The Suffolk Public Library and ForKids community fridge and pantry have already proved to be a much needed and used resource for those experiencing food insecurity. The fridge and pantry officially opened to the public on Aug. 13 during its ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Since then, SPL Community Engagement Senior Librarian Amanda Hayes said the fridge and pantry are opened an average of 200 times a week, whether that be donations or people using it. She said they are able to collect this kind of data with sensors of the fridge and pantry doors. There are no cameras, so users and donors can remain anonymous if they wish.

Taleshia Howard, ForKids senior program manager, said they’ve seen many different kinds of people using the community fridge and pantry including homeless people, families, and seniors.

Howard also noted how nothing seems to be going to waste. She said everything donated is usually gone within a day or two.

“It seems to be something that the community is just rallying around, whether it’s using the items there, or donating,” Howard said. “It’s kind of turned into a really good resource that people are respecting and using as they need.”

Their biggest concern, Howard said, is if people will continue to donate so frequently. Now that the holiday season is over, she’s concerned donations will decrease.

“Right now we’re in the holiday time, so everyone, of course, will donate. It’s the warm and fuzzy season,” she said. “But it’s just, now trying to drive home that people are in need year round.”

Marie Garrenton, ForKids Community Partnership Manager, said they like to abide by the general rule of “don’t donate anything you wouldn’t feed your own family.” They don’t accept anything past its expiration date or anything homemade. Garrenton said they also don’t take any raw meat because of strict food safety regulations. 

Harper Bradshaw of Harper’s Table in downtown Suffolk routinely donates eggs, milk, and produce, Hayes said. Garrenton said he was the one who brought the idea of a community fridge and pantry to her back in 2022.

Garrenton said Lowes donated a brand new fridge and pantry for them to use, but her supervisor at ForKids wasn’t 100% sold on the idea. 

Hayes and Garrenton soon met through SPL staff and realized they both wanted to do the same thing. It was then easily decided the fridge and pantry would be at the ForKids Suffolk location on West Constance Road and SPL staff would routinely restock it — a partnership Hayes called “kismet.” 

Garrenton reminisced on the first time she met Hayes and gave her a tour of the ForKids Birdsong Center:

“She was like, ‘What’s up with this fridge and pantry?’ I was like, ‘Well, my boss said we could house a community fridge, but he doesn’t want to be in charge of it.’ And she hit me on my arm and says, ‘Get out of here. My boss says we can manage a fridge, but he doesn’t want to house it.’ I was like, okay, well, then let’s go. So we kind of worked together and came up with a little memorandum of understanding and opened the fridge and pantry.”

In addition to the pantry and fridge, there is also a hygiene hut where people can find toiletries, body care products, and cleaning supplies. Hayes said they do accept things like gloves, hats, and scarves, but they can’t take any clothing because of space restrictions. She said they are planning to partner with another organization to also provide pet food, and stressed that sunscreen and menstruation products are always needed. 

In doing her own research on food insecurity, she found that one in five children and one in seven households are food insecure in Suffolk. She also mapped out what resources already existed and noticed that while there are a lot, they are often only open during working hours and ask for proof of need. 

“I wanted to come up with a resource that was 24/7,” she said. “You didn’t have to prove anything, didn’t have to talk to anybody, just show up and get what you need.”

Hayes said her goal was always for the community fridge and pantry to become community led and driven, which it has now become.

While their data shows that it definitely is being used now, Garrenton said it didn’t start out that way. 

In the beginning, she said they got a lot of nonperishables through a sponsorship with Big Lots. Harper Bradshaw was also donating weekly and the food bank would make donations as well, but other than that, it wasn’t being utilized.

She said things started to ramp up on social media and by word-of-mouth after the ribbon-cutting ceremony in August.

“The past couple weeks have been insane, with people using it and people filling it, and then it’s empty, and then people fill it again, and then it’s empty again,” Garrenton said. “The word has really gotten out in the community, not only that it’s a resource for people to take from, but also that it’s a place where you can give.”

A lot of people on Facebook have been sharing concerns about the possibility of people using the fridge and pantry when they might not need it.

Hayes said she understands this concern, but her philosophy is that people tend to exaggerate the amount of people who misuse resources. She said it’s also important to think about what “need” truly means, and who determines that meaning.

“It doesn’t matter to me if one hungry person is helped and nine people are taking and they don’t need it,” she said. “I will continue to do this work because I am feeding that one person.”

Garrenton echoed that, saying she hopes people won’t let the possibility of something negative stop them from doing something good. 

“I understand that there is a lot of confusion and worry about who could take it, and what happens when someone empties it, and all that stuff,” she said. “We are all learning about this together and just trying to do little things of good stuff in the world, tiny pieces of good. And we can’t let the negativity keep us from doing that.”