Feb 16, 2022
What’s in the fridge? In New Orleans, solidarity means a stocked fridge. In this episode of Gravy, producer Sarah Holtz takes listeners inside a mutual aid society called New Orleans Community Fridges, which formed during the pandemic to help feed people in need. Since its start, the group has been gifted around 20 fridges. They sit on neighborhood sidewalks, plugged into power strips, some powered by generators—filled with food that’s free for the taking.
In this episode, Holtz talks to New Orleans Community Fridges organizer Sarah Rubbins-Breen; Destany Gorham and Tenaj Jackson, two fridge hosts; and Tim Vogel, a fridge contributor, to understand how neighbors are feeding neighbors through the fridges. She also speaks with Devin De Wulf—an educator, artist, and co-founder of the mutual aid organization Feed The Second Line—whose solar panel-topped house became a neighborhood hub during Hurricane Ida power outages. (From there, he hatched an idea to create a network of solar-powered first responders, called Get Lit, Stay Lit.) Together, they demonstrate how mutual aid—by the people and for the people—can lead to greater self-determination within communities.