Slowly but Surely: Chronicle of Springfield’s First Community Fridge

Not all tools or normative practices at the hands of architects and designers may align with the call for architectural commoning. Yet, design thinking and skill contributions to building more sustainable, resilient, and equitable communities are conceivable on all levels and scales. One such approach aligns with what is theoretically known as the “mutual aid.” Activist and law professor Dean Spade in his 2022 book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) defines the concept as the survival work done in conjunction with social movements. Mutual aid is a framework for demanding transformative change, for radically redistributing care and wellbeing, and to ultimately “heal ourselves and the world.”1 Through a mutual aid outlook, even though with small design acts, architectural contributions to regenerative and redistributive commons- based economies are foreseeable, by putting design to work and the heart where the needs are. Mutual aid in action is the story behind the journey of Springfield’s first Community Fridge. It all began with an electronic message circulated during a peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021, sharing voices of two city residents who had raised the need for neighborhood fridges due to rising food costs and local food insecurities. The Community Fridge movement has started globally as a grassroots effort to combat food insecurity and food waste. When installed in accessible locations, they are proven to act as vital and identifiable resources for community members to pick up free fresh food and for patrons to donate excess food. Springfield’s Community Fridge project born with the spark from residents Chelsy Cole and Mal Bailey grew in partnership with local Citizen Architect Kate Stockton and myself. The initiative has since gained momentum in the months and year following, and attained resourceful new partnerships such as Drury AIAS Freedom by Design, the West Central Neighborhood Alliance and Urban Roots Farm business as hosts, Better Block SGF through its WeCreate 2022 design competition focus, and the Discovery Center of Springfield to be offering fresh produce donations from its aeroponics vertical gardens. The first neighborhood hosting the first fridge today has high need for food resources where neighbors will definitely benefit from the project. According to City data, 16.9% of county households are food insecure, an issue highly prevalent in West Central that is amongst poorest neighborhoods. Most recent data indicated 80% of residents as renters, 41.8% individuals and 30.8% families below poverty rates, with 14% unemployment rates and a median income as low as $19,731. Thanks to the collective efforts, unscripted impetus of the mutual aid groups and individuals involved, and funding through donations and grants, the fridge will be on its way in the built stage set for competition by the end of 2022.