Social:Community Fridges Toronto

From HandWiki
Short description: Nonprofit organization based in Toronto, Canada

Community Fridges Toronto (CFTO) is a network of public fridges with free food run by volunteers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with the intent of providing mutual aid to those in need, such as the homeless and people with food insecurity.[1][2][3] The network was co-created by Jalil Bokhari and his friend Julian Bentivegna to help support the homeless population in the Alexandra Park neighborhood in Toronto.[2] As of May 2022, there are eight CFTO fridges in Toronto.[1][4]

In November 2020, CFTO was forced to remove one of their public fridges in the Parkdale neighborhood by the City of Toronto due to "public safety and accessibility concerns", citing the "abandoned appliance bylaw" meant to protect children "and sanitation issues related to stopping the spread of COVID-19."[5][6][7] After the removal, the Parkdale community moved the fridge to another location.[6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kwong, Evelyn (2021-03-07). "'Take what you need, leave what you can': How a Toronto network is transforming the way we think about food insecurity" (in en). https://www.thestar.com/life/together/people/2021/03/07/take-what-you-need-leave-what-you-can-how-a-toronto-network-is-transforming-the-way-we-think-about-food-insecurity.html. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lafontaine, Miriam (2020-07-23). "Pair aims to set up network of community fridges across Toronto offering free food to those in need" (in en). https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/07/20/pair-aims-to-set-up-network-of-community-fridges-across-toronto-offering-free-food-to-those-in-need.html. 
  3. Morrison, Lyndsay (2020-08-27). "Community fridges help Torontonians dealing with food insecurity" (in en). https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/community-fridges-help-torontonians-dealing-with-food-insecurity-1.5081271. 
  4. Houghton, Brooke (2022-05-03). "Toronto Butcher Shop Set To Host New Community Fridge & Says It's A 'Direct Way To Help'" (in en-ca). https://www.narcity.com/toronto/toronto-butcher-shop-set-to-host-new-community-fridge-says-its-a-direct-way-to-help. 
  5. Francis, Angelyn (2020-11-25). "Volunteers for food sharing initiative ordered by city to remove fridge" (in en). https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/25/volunteers-for-food-sharing-initiative-ordered-by-city-to-remove-fridge.html. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Parkdale community fridge finds new home after city forced it to move" (in en-US). CBC News. 2020-11-30. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/parkdale-community-fridge-new-home-dunn-avenue-city-shut-down-1.5822816. 
  7. Draaisma, Muriel (2020-11-23). "City shuts down Parkdale community fridge but organizers hope to find it a new private home" (in en-US). CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/parkdale-community-fridge-city-order-removal-search-private-property-1.5813447.