DES MOINES, Iowa — Sweet Tooth Community Fridge in Des Moines has been helping people get access to free nutritious food for a little over a year.
Located on 6th Avenue in the River Bend Neighborhood, Monika Owczarski plans to extend its services.
The one-year-old project is helping fight food insecurity, a problem that isn't going away anytime soon.
"The needs don't go away," the founder said.
Owczarski and a group of community members come together to help make sure food goes inside the structure as often as possible.
"It's only because the hundreds of people who donate, who make calls and ask grocery stores and restaurants and the [Iowa Events Center] for their leftover food," she told Local 5. "Food that is perfectly legal and perfectly acceptable and delicious that would otherwise go in the trash."
The community fridge was started during the pandemic, and the need has only increased since then.
"Unfortunately, we can't keep up," Owczarski said. "People are struggling and there's just not enough support … Some days these doors are opened over 200 times. And we just can't keep up with the demand. People are very much in need. "
All of the money donated goes to stocking and maintaining the fridge.
Owczarski had to move the original location because the city said it was in a residential area and conflicted with city ordinances.
She hops to add two more fridges in the near future.
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