This free community fridge is open 24/7 for anyone who needs it

For years, Jen has wanted someone to open a community fridge.

The outdoor free food pantries around town are wonderful, she thought, but they’re limited in what you can share. Fruits and veggies don’t bode well in Tucson’s heat and you can forget about sharing a gallon of milk in a pantry that stands in the sun.

“I’m very much interested in getting food into the hands of people who need it,” Jen says. “There’s so much food that is great food that you can’t share at pantry-type places.”

Last October as the government shutdown was looming and SNAP benefits were nearing a pause, Jen was attending a national Quaker Worship Sharing over Zoom when her peers voiced concerns about the situation ahead.

“All of the folks there were talking about food insecurity and there was a lot of resource sharing and one of the things someone shared was this organization called freedge.org,” Jen says. “I went to this website and it was like my calling had arrived.”

FREEdge is an international organization that provides information and guidelines to help communities open free fridges in their own cities. Jen flew to the website.

“It basically answered all the questions. Is it safe? Is it legal? Can you have an open carton of milk? It answered all these questions and it had a little grant that you could apply for, which I instantaneously did that night,” Jen says. “And then the next day, I came to work and I was like, ‘OK, I think I’m going to put a community fridge in front of the store.’ It’s south-facing and maybe a terrible location, but it’s mine. It’s what I have and no one can stop me from doing it.”

Tucson FREEdge officially launched on Dec. 29, 2025 outside of Jen’s store, Jen’s Organic Home & Baby at 2831 E. Broadway Blvd. You’ll find two fridges and one freezer that are each open 24/7, often filled with fresh produce, bread, cheese and more, including ready-to-eat meals. 

Tucson FREEdge’s team includes Jay, who has experience working in the mutual-aid space. Though he felt a period of burnout and took a temporary step back from mutual-aid, he knew he wanted to do something to help others while still being able to take care of himself. 

“What was really cool was Jen was like, ‘Hey, wanna do this thing right here where you work?’ and I was like, ‘Yes, I would absolutely love to do that,’” says Jay, who also works at Jen’s Organic Home & Baby. “What has been cool is I’m seeing massive amounts of food feed massive amounts of people without it taking a toll on our bodies and our lives like I’ve seen happen (in mutual-aid spaces) in the past.”

Beyond the fridges, Tucson FREEdge is also home to a pantry with dry food items, a toaster oven, a microwave and a portable restroom — all of which are open all day every day.

And it’s all free, no questions asked.

“You can just come and get food,” Jen says. “You don’t have to prove yourselves to us.”

“I have learned in the time I’ve been in mutual-aid spaces and also in the time I’ve taken time away from them, there are a huge number of people who can’t access food in the usual channels,” Jay says. “They absolutely cannot make it at a certain time on a certain day. Especially if your mental health is degrading, even remembering a certain time on a certain day is huge. There are people who have legal concerns and wouldn’t feel safe going to a pantry, maybe having to provide ID or even just their name. There are all sorts of things. This being 24/7 gives people of all different backgrounds a way to access food on their terms instead of having to bend themselves out of shape to get to a food bank.”

Like regular food banks, you can bring food to donate. Unlike regular food banks, you can bring more than just shelf-stable foods. People who frequent the FREEdge are often excited when they see items beyond cans of soup and boxes of uncooked pasta, Jen says.

“It’s amazing to sit here and watch the number of times it fills and empties and fills and empties and fills and empties with food — every single day over and over and over,” Jen says. “For donors, (the 24/7 hours are) extremely helpful. It’s huge that you can make a pot of soup at midnight and bring down a few servings if you feel like it. There’s never any time that is prohibited.”

Sometimes you’ll find hot rotisserie chickens at the FREEdge — an easy and warm meal that you can’t get with SNAP. Sometimes a neighbor will donate snacks from a party they hosted. Maybe you made way too many muffins and want to share them with your community.

When I dropped by recently, a woman was filling one of the fridges with containers of veggie stir-fry that she made for dinner. She likes to visit the FREEdge, take an ingredient to cook with, then bring back the meal she prepared.

“People are so delighted to be able to bring and take — that happens almost all the time which is pretty phenomenal,” Jen says. “That’s what I think I love the most.”

One day, someone was microwaving a cake. Another night, someone poured chips and cheese into a recycled egg carton and stuck it into the toaster oven.

“We asked a neighbor what kinds of food items they found the most valuable and he said, ‘Honestly, the ability to have prepared food and have actual food,’” Jay says. “And he was making burgers in the toaster oven.”

A good chunk of the food at the FREEdge is donated by the community. Jen also does near-daily grocery runs where she buys items like butter, milks and oil — ingredients that are central to cooking that aren’t often donated in large quantities. Jay says protein — of any kind but especially protein that can be eaten immediately or microwaved or toasted — is also something that gets snagged quickly. Cheese and rotisserie chickens are among the items that people love, too.

“On weekends, we get lots of produce because Borderlands has their POW WOW (Produce On Wheels Without Waste) distributions and when you get a 75-pound box of produce, a lot of times, people are delighted to bring whatever they don’t want,” Jen says, adding that they also have a relationship with Iskashitaa Refugee Network, who provides items like citrus, pumpkin and bread to the FREEdge. “There are definitely a lot of folks who go to the food bank for regular pickups or go to wherever there are regular distributions around town and take what they need and bring the rest here.”

While you can donate more than what a food bank typically accepts, there are some items the FREEdge will not take. Think about the food you’d want to serve to your loved ones — don’t donate half-eaten leftovers, don’t donate food that has reached its expiration date and don’t donate ready-to-eat meals that don’t mention ingredients, allergens and the date of preparation. More guidelines can be found on the Tucson FREEdge’s website and in person at the FREEdge’s location.

Not only does FREEdge get food into the hands of people who need it, it also helps reduce food waste. Jen is also in the vacation rental business and often finds herself with a fridge full of food that her guests have left behind. Jen and Jay are hoping to spread the word to other rental owners — and restaurants and grocery stores — that FREEdge exists.

“I still think a lot about the moment where my brain shifted from waiting for someone else to start a FREEdge so I didn’t have to waste food from my Airbnb,” Jen says. “There was something very dramatic that shifted when I realized I could do it and that it was really important to not always be waiting — that I had this enormous amount of privilege and that it was just unconscionable to be sitting on that without putting it to work.”

“The needs (in our community) are so under-met and I think this was partially showing that it can be done. Maybe people can’t (have fridges and a portable restroom, for example) but this (shows) there are ways these things can be addressed,” Jay says. “People are resilient. They are expected to be resilient every single day. They’re putting in this massive amount of effort to survive and FREEdge provides the ability for that effort to build.”

Since opening the FREEdge late last year, the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive — and the space has been incredibly cared for by everyone who uses it. People work in community to wipe down the microwave, throw away the trash, sweep the porch.

“For me, this project is mutual-aid in that folks can both give and receive. It’s a very reciprocal project,” Jay says. “I think this puts emphasis on the value that anyone can bring something or take something. It’s very community-based.”

Jen and Jay think back to December when they were first setting up the commercial fridges. The appliances came with long strips of plastic and the two couldn’t figure out what they were meant for. 

Then the lightbulb went off — the strips were meant to display price tags because when a fridge like this is purchased, it’s typically to sell food in a store. The irony was rich — so much so that Jen wrote the word “free” in 120 different world languages and 40 Indigenous languages on slips of paper that should have been price tags. 

“I think the actual direct exchange is where the benefit occurs. I have lots of people from my meeting who love to cook and they always cook too much and they started to bring portions here and every time they come, someone is there who gets their food right from them — every time,” Jen says. “When I see people giving food that they’ve made to somebody who is hungry — that they’ve made themselves, that they’ve put their heart into — that’s the golden moment right there. That’s the humanity of it, that juicy bit. … You might have to be a little uncomfortable but then you’ll actually realize these are just human beings who are hungry. There’s magic happening in those moments. That’s the mutuality.”

🍎 Find Tucson FREEdge at 2831 E. Broadway Blvd., open 24/7. 🥕