Valley Community Fridges

NORTH HILLS, CA - Community refrigerators have been popping up all over Los Angeles county to feed some of LA’s Homeless population, A new location in San Fernando Valley opened up and has acquired a lot of attention on Instagram. Monica Lloyd, Co-Founder of Valley Community Fridges on Instagram has always wanted to help out her community so when she heard about this concept she couldn’t resist. She says, “We saw this Idea on Instagram and we were like we need to bring this to the valley, we have at least ten-thousand individuals that are unhoused.

Photo By Jordan Henry

When the idea first came about where to put the fridge, Mildred’s mom, owner of Toyin’s Fashion and African Market, decided she wanted to step up to the plate and offered to put the fridge in the back of her store.

As the increase in COVID-19 cases rises so does the need for food. The owner's daughter says this was a joint effort by her family. “When my mom was given the opportunity of course she fell in love with it because as a family we have always loved to give back to the community.”

Meanwhile, the city hasn’t said anything about the fridge but if they do, the founders hope they can remain open through the pandemic.

LA’s homeless population has increased since the pandemic, about a 14.2% increase from last year in 2019 according to NPR. A lot of people are trying to get back on their feet and Los Angeles, being one of the states with the most cases.

The fridge is operated and cleaned every day to maintain cleanliness during this pandemic. People are urged when they donate to only donate non-perishable goods and toiletries. You can even stop by to take a selfie next to the decorated fridge to spread the word on social media.

Monica Lloyd says “Social media has been our savior in grace a lot of our supporters say hey, I found you on Instagram what makes us most unique is that we have seen that the community fridge has launched but a lot of the locations are only in Los Angeles.”

More fridges plan to open up all over Los Angeles County, as people keep spreading the word on social media. As for San Fernando Valley Fridges, the goal is to have an empty fridge at the end of every night.