https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-if-donated-food-was-delightful/
"Dion Dawson’s day starts around 8 a.m. at the corner of 59th Street and Racine
Avenue in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Most days, his six-year-old son
Bryson accompanies him, eager to help stock the community fridge labeled with
“FREE FOOD” in sky blue letters. Usually, area residents have already gathered
around the fridge, which has been spray-painted with happy cows, bright red
apples, yellow corn and potatoes, as Dawson puts in oranges, lettuce and
strawberries. He hands out bananas and grapes, too.
“Always grapes,” he emphasizes. “When I grew up food insecure, I never got to
eat fresh grapes, ever. So I make sure we always have fresh grapes. That may
not be cost effective, but it makes a difference.”
Dawson set up the Chicago nonprofit Dion’s Chicago Dream and the community
fridge in 2020. He added a free weekly produce home delivery service in 2021.
Both address the lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables endemic to food
deserts — areas that lack supermarkets and are typically low-income. They are
also inspired by Dawson’s past food insecurity as well as his negative
experience with donation boxes from food banks.
“More than 500,000 Chicago residents live in a food desert,” Dawson says,
citing American Community Survey data. “More than half of our residents will be
food insecure in our community within this year.”
The Englewood fridge is accessible all day, unmanned, for anyone to take as
much fresh produce as they like. “The opportunity to consume fresh fruits and
vegetables is not something that I am used to,” says one resident, Terence. “I
feel sometimes that I don’t deserve it because no one has cared to offer it to
us consistently.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
