The organizers behind the Free Fridge in Medlock Park announced Tuesday evening that the fridge will close as of Aug. 31.
It is the last Free Fridge in Atlanta. The Free Fridge project began in 2020 and once had six locations, including in East Atlanta and Clarkston. Those locations closed in 2022. The concept behind the fridge was making food accessible 24 hours a day to people who needed it without the need to work through red tape or bureaucracy. The fridge in Medlock Park, located at North Decatur Presbyterian, endured through 2024 thanks to the aid and support of volunteers.
“With a heavy heart, we announce that ATLFreeFridge will be closing its doors on Saturday, August 31, 2024,” the Free Fridge organizers announced in an Instagram post. “We deeply appreciate the incredible individuals and businesses that supported us. Your contributions made a significant impact in fighting food insecurity and spreading kindness.”
“We recognize this closure will leave a gap in services, especially for our unhoused neighbors, but also for home-health workers bringing food to their clients, parents with big families, the underemployed, laborers, elderly people, and local students,” the post continued. “We are trying not to think of the closure as a failure, but instead, focusing on the positive changes we’ve made together over the years. Thank you for being a vital part of this mission.”
But the fridge also attracted criticism and controversy. The fridge attracted numerous homeless people who required more services than it could provide.
North Decatur Presbyterian leadership met with neighbors on Aug. 14 to discuss security concerns and complaints about waste and food debris found in neighborhoods. A letter viewed by Decaturish from Rev. David Lewicki, the church pastor, said the Church Session — the elders who govern the church — “provisionally” approved to continue operations through September. The provisional approval required certain conditions to be met, like improved security — which the church offered to help with — and the volunteers assuming responsibility for cleaning up waste around the fridge.
“The Church Session believes that the Fridge is an effective mutual aid model for the problem of food insecurity,” the letter says. “However, the Session understands that unless the safety and sanitation issues can be satisfactorily resolved, and trust begin to be restored, the Fridge must either be relocated or closed.”
The pastor’s letter to the community concluded with an apology.
“On a more personal note, our religious tradition’s highest ethical command is to love our neighbors,” he wrote. “Those are beautiful words to live by, but in practice they are rarely easy. On behalf of the church, we apologize for the ways we’ve failed to meet our tradition’s own standards. Thank you for your collaboration and participation in this work.”
News of the Free Fridge’s closure was met with sadness and an eagerness to help from people commenting on the Instagram post.
Rev. Lewicki’s letter mentioned that elected officials need to provide more help to address the needs of people who regularly use the fridge.
“The Church has contacted Commissioners Michelle Long Spears and Ted Terry to ask for DeKalb County’s help in addressing the issues of unhoused neighbors,” he wrote. “We strongly encourage neighbors to communicate your concerns and hopes with our elected county officials.”
Writer Logan C. Ritchie contributed reporting to this story.
This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.
