Driving Change, One Funky Fridge at a Time 

How one organization keeps its community fed

By Myriam Gonzalez

Photos and Illustration by Adrienne Martinez

A local food pantry is giving back to the Fort Worth community through its centrally located, fully stocked refrigerators. Funky Town Fridge has been providing pantry goods and hygiene products since its founder, Kendra Richardson, created the project in the fall 2020. 

“I started it because food apartheid has run rampant in Fort Worth, Texas, forever, and it was time to do something beyond what the city was giving its citizens,” Kendra says. “It was time for the community to show up for itself.”

While scrolling through social media, she noticed other cities were doing something similar, and she decided to bring that initiative to the community she was raised in. 

Kendra broke down “Feed the Funk” to a “basic human need” — the need to have access to food. “There were no grocery stores in these neighborhoods that we place fridges in or access to healthy foods. There’s no way for these people to improve their quality of life, even if they did have the power to do it themselves, and they don’t,” Kendra says.

The organization is mostly run through volunteer work, or “fridge friends,” but contributions are welcome from the entire community. Currently, there are three “funky fridges” located throughout Fort Worth that are accessible 24 hours a day, stocked through food donations, and available to anyone who wishes.

With plans in place to open future sites, Kendra says she hopes the impact reaches beyond that.

“I just hope to give people the power back. I hope they realize and understand that they hold the power to help our own quality of life,” she says.