SHELBURNE FALLS, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — The Shelburne Falls Common Good community fridge has undergone restructuring and found a new home next to the Buckland Town Hall. A grand opening event is planned for August 13th at 4 p.m. to celebrate the volunteer team’s efforts. The project was initiated by Hart Farm owner Anna Meyer through Common Good, a social change nonprofit in Ashfield.
From the Town of Buckland:
After several months of restructuring, the Shelburne Falls Common Good community fridge has a new home next to Buckland Town Hall and is ready to serve the public. Join us August 13th at 4pm for a grand opening event where we will gather to celebrate the hard work of the volunteer team that made it all happen, and to stock the fridge as a community! Food and refreshments will be generously provided by local businesses.
The fridge project was first initiated in 2021 by Common Good member and owner of Hart Farm Anna Meyer, who had heard of the free fridge concept and wanted to bring it to Shelburne Falls, where she knew there was a need for a solution to food insecurity. She asked Common Good, a national social change nonprofit based in Ashfield, MA, for support in funding the project and to see if its network of members and businesses could offer any resources or volunteers. Since then, Common Good has worked closely with Anna and a growing group of devoted volunteers to get the fridge in place, and to encourage others to do the same in their communities.
Raised on the belief that “there is always an extra plate for anyone who is hungry,” Gayle Davidson of Shelburne regularly distributes surplus produce and groceries from local farms and stores to food shelters around Western Massachusetts. Living only a few blocks away from the original Shelburne Falls fridge, she connected with Anna and became a regular monitor and stocker, and she had seen firsthand the positive impacts of the community fridge. She knew despite the obstacles that stood in the way, this was something the community needed, and so she took on a major role in organizing the success of this project: from contacting Town Administrators to connecting with local farms to stock the fridge, “She has been a great help and inspiration to keeping the project moving along” says Common Good’s Communications and Outreach Coordinator Julia Clohisy. When the original fridge/pantry structure proved to be inefficient for bearing New England winters, Gayle was regularly chipping ice off the frozen over pantry doors, making sure her neighbors could access what they needed. Knowing this was not sustainable, she recruited Zach Livingston, owner of Floodwater Brewery in Shelburne Falls and a talented carpenter, to help build a safer, more reliable shelter for the community fridge.
With the shelter built, Anna coordinated with Common Good to secure funds to replace the refrigerator. Common Good is a nonprofit organization that offers free tools and support for community-centered economic democracy, including a payment system that creates a “float” –money that can be invested to produce a profit and benefit the community–fiscal sponsorship, and an offers and needs board. The Common Good platform also allows members to round up their purchases to support individual organizations or causes they care about, including a “Food Fund”–which is where the funds to support this initiative come from. Donations to the Food Fund and to the Shelburne Falls Community Fridge can be made through Common Good at cg4.us/fundfood.
Once Anna received the funding, she coordinated with Manny’s Appliances, who generously provided a suitable refrigerator at a fair price, stored it until the structure was ready, and delivered it to the site free of charge. The fridge has also gained support from local markets and restaurants, one being Keystone Market, which was the first to support the fridge project in Shelburne Falls. They will continue to donate overstock produce and pantry goods. McCucker’s Market has also agreed to donate several times a week.
Other volunteers include Emily Gopen, who presented the concept and vision of the free fridge/pantry in-person to the Town of Buckland’s Selectboard. She secured unanimous approval to build it next to Town Hall. Emily and Jane Wegscheider of the Art Garden have been working on beautifying the structure and the Picnic Alley Space and creating and posting colorful Grand Opening signs all over town. Local architect Seth Wilshutz who designed the Free Fridge/Pantry Structure, calculated the costs and ordered the building materials. Electrician Barrett Martin installed motion detector lighting to assure safe passage to the free fridge/pantry.
Common Good, Anna, Gayle and the rest of the volunteer team have been moved by the overwhelming support from local businesses, community members, and the Town of Buckland, which is generously covering the electrical cost of the fridge and helped the team acquire the permits needed to operate the fridge. It takes a village to feed a village!
Support the Food Fund at cg4.us/fundfood