Community fridge installed in Mason City

(ABC 6 News) – You may have heard of things like little free libraries where you take a book and leave book.

In North Iowa, they are doing something similar with food. In an effort to combat food insecurity, North Iowa Mutual Aid started installing community fridges in the region.

“Most recently one was placed in the Mason City area at the Prairie Ridge Drop-In Center. We represent about a 9-county region in North Iowa. And just in the 9-county area, approximately 8 percent of people are experiencing food insecurity. Meaning they don’t have enough food to make it through the week or the month or anything,” said NIMA Board Member, Cassidy Flory.

Anyone can donate and take food, no questions asked. Prairie Ridge officials say the fridge is a perfect addition to the help they provide.

“We have lots of people coming here asking for different resources and food is one of them. As we all know there has been an increase in grocery prices and a decrease in assistance since covid and kind of all those extra and kind of all those extra benefits going away recently,” said Prairie Ridge Program Director, Cassandra Galsim.

The fridge is open from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Friday. The drop-in center also has a dry goods pantry that’s open 24/7.