The COVID-19 pandemic revealed glaring vulnerabilities in our global supply chain system. Even those outside the fields of economics and logistics are now aware of the problems of disrupted shipping lanes and blocked ports, where products languish while inventories at our favorite stores run thin and prices steadily climb.
The World Economic Forum notes that many corporations are responding to these systemic weaknesses by meeting their own needs: purchasing warehouses for storage, building shipping containers and even chartering their own oceangoing vessels. A similar trend seems to be growing in many communities across the U.S. as Zero Waste and Buy Nothing groups, free stores and other forms of mutual aid are increasing in popularity.
In Chattanooga, one way these efforts have taken shape is in the form of Hope Community Fridge. Founded in the summer of 2022 by Chaney Lanham, HCF installed its first community fridge at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in East Brainerd. Lanham told me she’d been driving about 30 minutes to a community fridge at Gaining Ground Grocery in Highland Park before she finally decided to open one closer to where she lived. In addition to having access closer to home, Lanham said adding a fridge in a different community “was more helpful in spreading the resources out.”
In July of this year, HCF installed a new fridge in the Brainerd community at the recently opened Carving Rock Kitchen. Between that one and the one at Wesley Memorial, Lanham estimates about 120 people visit each day, either to donate or collect food and hygiene products.
In addition to receiving donations from individuals, HCF partners with several local organizations to keep their fridges stocked. Chi Markets, an online grocery ordering and delivery service headquartered in Red Bank, has a “Fill the Fridge” option on their website. For $20, they will deliver a box of produce to the fridge and, according to Lanham, they will even call to inform the person who purchased the box to inform them when it’s being dropped off.
Another major supporter is Big Sycamore Farm in Decatur, Tennessee. The farmers, a husband and wife team, sell produce weekly at the Brainerd Farmers Market, which is just a block or so from the fridge at Carving Rock Kitchen. Lanham said the farmers will drop off extra produce at the fridge on Saturday mornings before setting up at the market.
For individuals looking to help stock the fridges, Lanham said the most requested items right now are fruit, vegetables, bottled water and ice packs. For those who want to give their time, HCF is looking for volunteers to help with fundraising and developing relationships with area businesses that may wish to donate food and hygiene products.
To continue spreading the resources of this local mutual-aid effort, Lanham is looking to set up community fridges in Hixson and East Ridge, once she can find suitable locations. “I enjoy what I do for the community,” she told me, “and I have the privilege to do it for free right now, so I’m just going to keep doing that.”
To learn more about Hope Community Fridge, sign up to volunteer or purchase food for a donation, visit linktr.ee/hopecommunityfridge or search Hope Community Fridge on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
L.B. Blackwell has been practicing Eknath Easwaran’s passage meditation for more than 10 years. He lives in Chattanooga with his wife and two daughters. He blogs at mundaneway.blogspot.com.