St. Clement Church partners with groups to build

refrigerator with food (Photo by Ello on Unsplash)

The St. Clement Church in Medford, Massachusetts, a few miles away from Boston, recently opened its newly-built community refrigerator and pantry for the public and donors who want to give out groceries. The local church's Blessed Andrew Phu-Yen Parish is in partnership with two Massachusetts-based groups, YouthBuild Just A Start and Somerville Community Fridge.

Free Food For Locals in Medford

In 2019, the Medford Food Security Taskforce released a study showing how food-deprived people were in the city. As explained in the file, an average of one in nine families in Medford have issues with food insecurity. Thus, the Greater Boston Food Bank identified the city as its top 'priority' area in slowly solving this issue.

To combat the problem of the ongoing issue of food insecurity, not just in Medford, the St. Clement Church partnered with the YouthBuild Just A Start and the Somerville Community Fridge to give away groceries and food for those who need the most.

As reported via The Sommerville Times, before the end of July, the local church opened a community pantry and refrigerator in its parking lot area. The YouthBuild Just A Start construction students reportedly installed and built the refrigerator and pantry.

According to the report, the students were inexperienced builders without prior knowledge of making a refrigerator and pantry. Despite that, they finished the project's construction in around three weeks.

The report also stated that the students learned a lot of construction skills just by helping the church do the project.

Dan Madri, a YouthBuild vocational instructor, said in the report that the pantry and refrigerator project allowed their students to have a hands-on experience in what they are doing at YouthBuild. He also called it a 'fantastic opportunity' for everyone on the team.

Somerville Community Fridge's Earliest Projects

Meanwhile, the Somerville Community Fridge group reportedly contributed the materials used in the construction of the project. They are no longer new in the said initiative as they already have refrigerators and pantries in Somerville's Union Square and the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville.

Still, Todd Kaplan, one of the organizers, said that they are grateful for partnering with YouthBuild Just A Start and St. Clement for this latest project.

He added that the refrigerator project would be a great help to combat the issue of food damage due to long-time storage. The group hopes to give the locals fresh produce every day.

As explained, the Somerville group will be responsible to 'routinely stock' produce and different products at St. Clement's pantry. Kaplan, however, reminded locals in Medford that they hope everyone will be considerate of those who need food the most and only take what they need for the day.

The Blessed Andrew Phu-Yen Parish's pastor, Fr. Phong Pham, reportedly initiated the project.

"This Community Fridge, in a gentlest way, validates and authenticates our faith as Catholics. We thus are profoundly honored to participate in the effort to better the lives of our brothers and sisters," he said.

The report said that the community fridge and pantry would be accessible to everyone. It will be within walking distance from the church and the church hall.