‘Love Fridges’ are stuffed with generosity, as well as foodstuffs

Chicagoans doing more than just leaving items to help fill refrigerators all over town.

Love Fridges are community refrigerators that dot Chicago neighborhoods, offering free, fresh food to anyone who needs it. The brainchild of Chicago musician Ramon “Radius” Norwood, Love Fridges started popping up around the city last summer, and now there are more than 20.

Michelle Digiacomo was immediately taken with the idea. The principal at an early childhood center in Chicago, Digiacomo is disabled, and shopping for and filling the fridges herself was not an option. So she posted a note on some neighborhood Facebook pages, asking whether anyone would like to take a few thousand dollars in gift cards she has collected for the nonprofit she co-founded — Direct Effect Charities, which distributes gifts to families in need at Christmastime — and use them to fill Love Fridges.

Annie Swingen saw Digiacomo’s post and jumped in to help, giving rise to one of the beautiful little villages of good that are punctuating this pandemic.

Swingen, her husband, Lee, and their 10-year-old son, Ellis, now have a weekly tradition. They collect coupons all week and hit the grocery store by 7 a.m. Saturday. After they shop, they stock up different Love Fridges around the city.

Swingen has learned a few things: Some Love Fridges have built-in pantries for nonperishable goods — bread, cereal, paper products. When she fills those shelves with tampons and pads, they’re often gone before she’s even back in her car. Meat and eggs go quickly, too.

Invariably, Swingen comes across homemade soups and other meals in the fridges, which warms her heart a bit.

Some people donate food that’s expired, which Swingen removes.

“People are shopping, not foraging,” she said. “Preserving people’s dignity is really important to me.”

She sometimes finds grocery bags, unpacked, stuffed on the fridge or pantry shelves. She unpacks them and arranges the items so people can more easily see the choices.

“If folks can’t donate money or items, they can donate their time,” she said. “You can go once a week and check expiration dates, check if the fridges have been unplugged. There’s a very communal aspect to it.”

Digiacomo, meanwhile, is continuing to collect money for more gift cards.

“I’m going to collect them until the need doesn’t exist,” she said. “People are hungry and people are hurting.”

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE Annie Swingen and her family clip coupons all week, then shop on Saturdays for the fridges. Swingen also sorts others’ offerings to make it easier for people to shop.