Across Austin, there are five free fridges open 24/7, where the community can donate and take food as needed.
AUSTIN, Texas — If your fridge is a little too full from the Thanksgiving Day feast, there’s a place you can bring your leftovers that gives back to the community.
On Thursday afternoon, some people in Austin dropped off their additional plates and Thanksgiving leftovers at the ATX Free Fridges.
It’s a mutual aid project that’s run completely by volunteers. They’re all 100% free and open to the community 24/7.
There are five ATX Free Fridges across Austin, including one in West Campus on Pearl Street, in South Austin at the corner of Dittmar and South 1st Street, as well as in North Austin on Koenig Lane behind Brentwood Social House.
Mallory Valentine spent her morning cooking, and dropped off more than a dozen Thanksgiving meals, calling it an easy way to give back to the community.
“I almost always make too much of something, and it’s very easy to, like, pack some of it up and drop it off at one of the free fridges,” Valentine said.
Especially during this time of the year, Valentine said it’s great to help some people out how might not be as fortunate.
“I think that around the holidays can be really happy times for some people, and also like really sad times, and small comforts mean something,” Valentine said.
You don’t have to sign up to bring or take food, you can just go to any one of the five locations. They just say to take only what you need for that day.
If you are dropping off, there are some guidelines to follow, including sanitizing your hands before opening the fridge, not leaving catering trays or bulk items but rather individually portioned meals, labeling each item with the name of the dish, ingredients and allergen and the date the food was prepared.
People can also sign up to help clean the fridges.