Someone stole the South Philly Community Fridge outside Bok. Volunteers aren’t pressing charges — they just want it back.
A volunteer with the group said it was losing hope that the fridge would be returned, but said that a replacement — kept in reserve for such situations — should be stocked and ready Thursday night.
The South Philadelphia Community Fridge volunteer sent to check in on the refrigerator the group keeps stocked outside the Bok Building didn’t need to be much of a detective.
“Is the Bok fridge not supposed to be here?” the volunteer slacked the group Wednesday morning, after realizing that the fridge they fill with fresh options for hungry neighbors was missing.
Security footage retrieved from the Bok Building at Ninth and Mifflin quickly showed that three men had driven off with the fridge overnight. From the grainy video, which the mutual aid organization is not releasing to avoid accusations or mistaken identity, volunteers suspect the thieves were after scrap metal.
But the South Philadelphia Community Fridge is not pressing charges. They just want whoever took the fridge to bring it back — or, at the very least, realize whom they hurt by swiping it. And that even thieves know where to turn if they need a helping hand.
“We understand that people do desperate things that harm their communities when they live with poverty and trauma,” the group posted on Facebook hours after the theft. “Our hope is that our neighbors who took the fridge recognize the harm of their actions. In the future we want them to let us know how we can help instead of removing resources from their community.”
Victoria Jayne, a volunteer who lives in South Philadelphia, said Thursday morning the group was losing hope that the fridge would be returned, but predicted a replacement — kept in reserve for such situations — should be stocked and ready by Thursday night.
The group’s forgiving response, she said, is in keeping with its mission to better the community ― for everyone.
“When you see a situation where you see people so economically insecure that they are stealing a community fridge to sell for scrap metal ... we have to ask why are these things happening and what can we do to improve these communities,” Jayne said. “We strongly believe that the community people live in is everyone’s responsibility.”
They aim to model a response that could force others to consider what they could do for hungry and hurting neighbors.
“Trying to find the people who took our fridge and punish them for it does not help anyone,” Jayne said. “It’s a net negative for the community. It doesn’t make anything better for anyone — it only hurts the people who took it, who are probably living in poverty already.”
The antihunger organization has stocked the fridge — one of five they operate across South Philly — since September 2020, Jayne said. About 150 volunteers fill the fridges with donated or rescued food available 24/7, no questions asked. Neighbors can also fill the shelves with fresh options.
In May, the group restocked the South Philly fridges nearly 100 times, Jayne said.
“Every fridge has its own little community,” she said.
At Bok, that community includes many food-insecure members of South Philly’s Asian and Latino diaspora. A similar fridge had been stolen on nearby Titan Street in 2020, Jayne said. Before Wednesday’s theft, Jayne said, the group’s main challenge at the Bok location was recruiting enough volunteers who could speak the same languages as the many people who depended on the fresh food.
On Thursday morning, volunteers were working to reassure those folks that a new fridge — and the food it would hold — was on the way.