As food insecurity persists and prices continue to rise, Cambridge’s Fridge in the Square remains a critical resource for residents in need. While Cambridge residents usually assist in stocking the Fridge, one group in particular is now making a concerted effort to help more routinely.
Students enrolled in Lesley University’s Threshold programs, which aim to teach independence, social skills, and career readiness to neurodiverse young adults within a college-based environment, helped stock the Fridge early last month. The event, held on Dec. 5, was an inaugural program-wide community service day for first-year students, but the hope is to keep the work going.
“It’s really a chance for us to give back and to say thank you to [the] community, and also to acknowledge there are people in the community who need support,” said Jennifer Thorell, executive director of the Threshold Programs.
Threshold students will support the Fridge through weekly internships and service projects that will continue beyond the December event, when a group of around 20 prepared bagged lunches for the Fridge. Students can choose from a few different ways of contributing to the Fridge weekly, from shopping for food to managing inventory to preparing meals.
The Fridge in the Square was set up as a community resource in January 2021 to address food insecurity. Organized by the Harvard Square Business Association in partnership with Cambridge Community Fridge, the resource — located at the First Parish Church, near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Church Street —operates under the principle of “take what you need, leave what you can.” In the years since the Fridge was set up, food insecurity has continued to rise in the Greater Boston area. Cambridge food pantries are also feeling the pressure of keeping up with the demand.
Unlike soup kitchens, which often have fixed hours, the Fridge allows residents to access food whenever they are able, early or late in the day. It can be stocked with any safe, in-date foods such as fresh produce, packaged meals, and pantry items, as well as basic hygiene essentials. Importantly, the Fridge aims to provide be a space that addresses needs without stigma and that increases accessibility and dignity.
“There’s no one looking at you or looking down at you or qualifying you or quantifying you or anything like that,” City Councillor E. Denise Simmons, who was mayor at the time said. “It’s something that you can do anonymously, if you want to, without feeling shy or guilty or embarrassed.”
Moving forward, Threshold hopes to continue strengthening its students and preparing them for life after school. “We’re really trying to [teach] and work with our students in terms of employment and career development so that when they leave this program, they are fully employable,” said Catherine Horan, director of career services for the Threshold Programs. Threshold students typically participate in several internships throughout the two-year program, including those that focus on building skills such as budgeting, food preparation and marketing.
But given the ongoing need, the Lesley University program also serves to increase awareness of the Fridge. “We are being squeezed and we’re being pushed, and it’s really difficult times,” said Simmons, who was mayor at the time. She said seeing community programs like the Fridge supported “gives me joy [and] it makes me hopeful,” she said, adding, “There is a brighter side.”
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