By Laura Hayes, Senior Community Reporter
(Photo/Laura Hayes)
NORTHBOROUGH — When the Friend Fridge located at 37 Pierce St. needed a new refrigerator, the community stepped up.
In fact, within an hour of a fundraiser’s launch, community members had already met their goal of $850.
The fridge, which is located at the Northborough Food Pantry, opened in May and was started by Maria Ravelli’s class of kindergarteners and first graders at the Fitzgerald Community School.
Since it’s been open, Ravelli said they’ve received a “ton” of support from the community.
The original fridge had been donated. Ravali said it began to give them issues, though. So, the Friend Fridge held a fundraiser and bought a new fridge.
Ravelli hopes that the new fridge will be delivered and ready by the end of the first week of August.
“The day that we plugged it in, the fridge did not work,” Ravelli said.
The group tried to work with the company for over a month to honor the fridge’s warranty. But they eventually opted to get a new one.
The goal was to raise $850.
“What I noticed, whenever we do these spurts of crowdfunding, is that the community always does this, and that’s so powerful. There’s never been a time where we put a need out in the community and it just sat there and we had to figure out another solution,” Ravelli said.
(Photo/Laura Hayes)
Some community members donated $5. The business Main Street Pastries and More donated over $450, Ravelli said.
“That’s the beauty of this kind of work when it’s run by community members truly is [that] everyone just does their part,” she said.
While organizers are waiting on the new fridge to arrive, there’s still food available. Items like apples, oranges and hardy vegetables like potatoes and onions can be donated to the current fridge.
“We can still give people access to fresh food,” Ravelli said.
In the future, Ravelli hopes local restaurants could donate labeled premade meals to the fridge. People can get in contact with the group through their Facebook page.
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