It’s late morning and the streets are already alive up and down the six mile stretch of Avenida Cesar Chavez in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of east Los Angeles. Sun faded umbrellas pop with color above the fruit stands under the summer sky and bells ring signaling the arrival of cold ice cream carts. Masked up foot traffic means more eye contact as a sign of respect and the occasional tip of the hat takes the place of a handshake. Vibrant, hand-painted mariscos signs welcome the impending lunch rush about to grab their to-go orders and the neighboring Milpa Grille is brimming with patrons from all walks of life. The energetic and welcoming owner, Deysi Serrano offers up a coffee while simultaneously flitting about greeting her employees and customers who clutch the mouth-watering menu.
Day Hernandez pulls up to the already enthusiastic scene with a lot of the energy on the street seemingly surrounding the small restaurant. She’s here to tell the story about the avocado-colored shared food refrigerator that sits just outside Milpa Grille and how it’s helping those in need. The fridge is part of a broader effort by communities across the nation responding to the hunger crisis affecting the most vulnerable among us, especially during a pandemic when jobs are scarce for lower wage workers and the well of resources gets flooded for underserved areas in American cities.
The concept of the shared food fridge is relatively straightforward but novel enough to elicit curiosity from anyone passing by. Everyone in the community or adjacent neighborhoods is invited to drop off food which becomes communal in an anonymous exchange of goodwill and extends a hand in solidarity for someone who is at risk of going hungry. Freshness is also a factor, as veggies are often up for grabs providing nutrition to those in dire circumstances.
“It started with LA Community Fridges and my friend Ismael hit me up asking if I wanted to put some out in Lincoln Heights and Boyle Heights,” adds Hernandez when asked what drove her to participate in something bigger than buying groceries for her neighbors falling on hard times. “That’s when I hit up Deysi from Milpa Grille and she was quick about it; in fact, it went up faster than I expected it to.” Almost overnight Hernandez found a fridge, hand-painted a small scale mural on the front to make it more welcoming and stocked it with items she felt people needed most.
