Grassroots · Menasha, Wisconsin, United States
Hope Fridge
A volunteer mutual aid network of 24/7 community fridges across Wisconsin's Fox Cities
Shine Sunlight to follow their work and see how it grows.
Since 2021Works across the regionFox River and Lake Winnebago Basin (Great Lakes)
Hope Fridge runs free community fridges, open 24/7/365, where anyone can take fresh food, non-perishables and hygiene goods and leave donations, currently hosted by People of Progression in Menasha and Trinity Episcopal Church in Oshkosh. It started in Neenah in 2021 and calls itself a mutual aid project, not a charity, run entirely by volunteers and donations.
Co-founder TJ Hobbs told Wisconsin Public Radio in November 2025 that each fridge sees dozens to hundreds of visitors a day, with food sometimes gone within minutes, and that finding volunteers rather than food limits new sites. An Appleton site was planned at the time. The group's how-to guide for starting a fridge, written with The Love Fridge (Chicago) build plans, was used by Rhinebeck, NY, in a May 2026 proposal.