Vancouver locals came together to move a community fridge to a new spot on Main Street.
On July 2, the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, a local neighbourhood centre, caught on fire, causing all work in the building to stop. The fire also cut off the power to the community fridge outside the building, making it non-operational.
"A lot of people rely on this fridge for food," said Mona Grenier, a volunteer with Vancouver Community Fridge Project, which rescues food from grocery stores and bakeries to donate to fridges and pantries in the community.
Grenier said that after the fire, she didn't know what to do until a store only two blocks away from the neighbourhood house stepped up with an offer to be a temporary host for the fridge.
The Soap Dispensary on Main Street used to be the original host of the community fridge in 2021, before the fridge was moved to the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House.
"Because we used to host it earlier, it made perfect sense to host the fridge till the Little Neighbourhood is up and running," said Linh Truong, owner of the Soap Dispensary, a refill store with the goal to reduce packaging waste in the community.
"We wanted to make sure that the fridge could still offer the services to the people benefiting from the food," Truong told V.I.A.
But, this wasn't the only sign of mutual aid in the community.
More locals step up to help out
The Soap Dispensary said that they could host the fridge but the sidewalk outside their store was slanted.
Grenier, who goes by Interrupting Chicken on social media, put a call-out on TikTok, and a couple volunteered and built a stable, wooden platform for the fridge.
Vancouverites continued to assist when Grenier put another call-out on social media to help her move the fridge to its new, temporary location.
"I wasn't sure that anyone would show up, but when I went to the fridge the next day, there were five people waiting to help me out," she told V.I.A.
However, the fridge was plugged in inside the closed Little Mountain building and they were unable to move it that day.
After accessing the building and getting the fridge unplugged, Grenier and Truong's husband, Stuart, moved the fridge along Main Street to its new home.
Truong and Grenier completely cleaned the fridge the next day.
"We put the first donation in the new location and the fridge has been up and running since," said Grenier, who chronicled the entire process of moving the fridge on her TikTok.
The mission to 'get more food in the fridges for the people who need it'
Grenier, who is passionate about food security, said that at first, she was just curious about what was in the community fridges and started getting involved when she met some of the people who rely on the food in those fridges.
"I always have them in my mind and I am dedicated to trying to get more food in the fridges for the people who need it," she said.
The Little Mountain Neighbourhood House is still assessing the extent of damage to the building and their programs are being offered at alternative locations.
