Wrentham Residents Collaborate On Community Fridge Initiative

By Raga Chilakamarri 

In the coming months, motorists easing towards a halt at the stop sign between Franklin and South Street in Wrentham center may notice a new establishment has suddenly sprung up, transforming an otherwise unassuming corner patch of dirt and stone into a nexus for neighborly care: a community fridge. 

The premise is simple. An accessible, outdoor refrigerator and pantry that are open 24/7 and free for anyone to take what they want and leave what they can. But for Chris Ferdinandi, the Wrentham resident helming the project, the process from inception to implementation has been a bit like Dorothy’s journey towards Oz, every impasse solved through the favor of a neighbor along the way, logistical hurdles stepped over brick by yellow brick. 

Ferdinandi said he had come across the community fridge concept a few years ago but was catalyzed to act when the recent government shutdown and subsequent SNAP cuts reverberated throughout the country. 

“I immediately thought, man, I should have done that a while ago, because it would be great to have something in place, but no better time than now,” Ferdinandi said of his initial spark. “So I very naively figured that I’ll just buy a fridge, we’ll figure out the rest. We can make this and it shouldn’t be that hard... [but] it clearly has taken a fair bit longer than I expected or hoped.”

Taking to Facebook, Ferdinandi started posting in several local groups in November, seeking out a host location more central than his own west Wrentham residance. His early call for help was met with false starts, he said, but caught the eye of residents Kelsey Cuomo and Lauren Grover, who each seperately reached out, eager to get involved. “I am eternally grateful. I probably would have given up a few months ago if it were not for them,” Ferdinandi said candidly. 

They set to work sourcing locations and conducting outreach. There were several decision-making factors. The criteria included well-lit and heavily-trafficked areas with level grounding and access to an electrical outlet. Accessibility was important to Ferdinandi who considered cases like “If someone is in a wheelchair or they have have mobility issues, can they get to it physically? Can they actually reach the door and open it and get things out of the fridge?” fretting that elderly folks who don’t drive would not be able to partake in this resource. 

The specific make of the fridge itself was also imperative given the need to withstand harsh New England weather; they debated glass versus solid doors, ultimately leaning towards the latter to avoid heat transfer, settling for a “garage-ready” model with a 10.8 cubic feet capacity (somewhere between a dorm and standard kitchen fridge size). 

Things started clicking into place when Julie Etter of Berkshire Hathaway Real Estate connected with Ferdinandi, offering the area outside of her building at 12 South Street. Mike Dacko, a Wrentham-based electrician, installed the required outdoor-rated outlet free of cost.

Ferdinandi, a professional web developer, created a website called Wrenthamshares.com and launched a GoFundMe campaign in January which, in less than a day, exceeded their goal of $2,000, enough money to purchase the refrigerator, build a protective enclosure, and stock an initial round of groceries and supplies. 

There are several community fridges located across Massachusetts, and the Wrentham Shares team cited collaborating with the leaders of those hyperlocal pantries for guidance on best practices. Their team of volunteers grew to nine people who are organizing a shift system for regular maintenance and cleaning shifts to ensure food is properly sealed and within expiration dates. Cuomo said that she and other volunteers have completed an online Massachusetts Food Handling Certification. In addition, a local artist has expressed interest in painting a mural onto the enclosure and other creatives volunteered to graphic design flyers to promote the project with ideas of future collaboration with nearby restaurants and farms propagating excitedly among the team.  

While much of the community response has been positive, Grover and Ferdinandi noted there has been some aired apprehension. Some have raised concern about this initiative detracting from the long-running Wrentham Food Pantry. 

Diana Eastty, the board member in charge of the pantry’s communications, said that they serve around 40 families every week and have about 75 people registered. As of now, Eastty said the pantry is well served with a consistent, committed group of volunteers and 11-person board to manage the donation shed stock and shopping. 

She also mentioned that in response to the SNAP cuts, the Franklin Food Pantry, which is much larger, opened to accept registration from folks in the surrounding towns who can come in on Tuesday nights. 

“We did have more families come, but it wasn’t like we were inundated,” Eastty said of the period when SNAP benefits lapsed. “It was totally manageable…and the people in Wrentham really stepped up. We were getting donations—mostly financial and food donations—very, very generously. And that’s very typical of Wrentham.” 

Ferdinandi seems confident they can work in conjunction and fill each other’s gaps, and Eastty echoed that sentiment. For instance, the Wrentham Food Pantry is only open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon, registration requires proof of residence in Wrentham, and there’s a set stock of items, while the fridge will always be open with no restriction on residence and subject to variability of the donations at any given point. 

According to a November 2025 report from the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), 481 households—roughly one in every ten—in Wrentham are on SNAP benefits, commonly called food stamps. For students qualifying for SNAP and TAFDC, an economic assistance program for families, Wrentham Public Schools offers free or reduced lunches, which can alleviate some of the burden for low-income families, but with rising prices and unemployment rates, the economic moment can feel tough to meet.

Julie Etters, who is also president of the Wrentham Business Collaborative, is coordinating with White Barn Farm to support a food share program with the Wrentham Food Pantry. 

“[The community fridge] just seems like another way to help snowball the initiative of making sure that our neighbors are fed,” Etters said. “I think access to food is less prominent than we want to think it is. And I have no doubt that initiatives like this will continue to be maximized to the fullest extent, because the need is there.” 

Etters also brought up some wariness over potential vandalism and the pros and cons of hosting a community fridge in such a public area. 

“On one hand it’s great, we’re so central…it’s easier for people to access us, it’s easy for people to see us, but will that be a challenge for some people? Do they want it to be more confidential?” said Etters. “[Though] the fridge is being utilized where you could be walking up to it to either put food in or take food out, so hopefully that takes away stigma.”

Ferdinandi mused that much of the pushback likely stems from a want for fairness. “I guess it’s two questions. It’s how are you going to ensure someone doesn’t take too much? And how are you going to ensure that the people who need it the most are actually the ones who benefit. There’s this strong desire to restrict and police access. That is very much antithetical to the ethos of how something like this works. One of the core operating principles for us is that food is a universal right. Everybody deserves access to food and it is not our business to police who deserves it, how much they deserve, who can take it.” 

For the three collaborators, the undertaking of the project itself seemed to offer an encouraging conduit for their individual searches for community-feeling. Cuomo just moved to Wrentham from Bellingham a year and a half ago. “I feel like my biggest takeaway from it was how I just didn’t even realize that I was missing a sense of community in my life,” she said. “It’s just been a really heartwarming experience.” 

Grover was raised in Wrentham and had only moved back during the pandemic, admitting she felt reluctant about returning to her hometown. 

“I feel like the community fridge has helped me feel more confident in that decision and feel like I’m more willing to be a part of the community again,” she shared. 

Early February winter storms have stalled the project, as the temperatures were too cold for the condenser to work properly. At Local Town Pages press time, the team was considering the best course of action for building the protective enclosure, either constructing it themselves or enlisting a professional carpenter to lend some skills. 

“From talking with other community fridge organizers, it’s clear that nearly every one of these is a localized experiment,” Ferdinandi said. “We really want this to be a neighbors helping neighbors kind of initiative.”