Wichita coffee shop adds in-store fridge, and everything inside is free for the taking
When Leslie Coffee Co. reopened for dine-in service in early May after a long stint serving coffee to-go only, customers noticed an addition to the dining room.
In the back corner of the shop just beyond the service counter now sits a pastel pink refrigerator that’s also been decorated with a colorful mural and the words “Everybody eats.” Inside, the refrigerator is full of food and beverages — eggs, packaged cheese, bottles of Gatorade, fruit, a sack of potatoes, apples, oranges, mangoes, sour cream, Lunchables and more — and anyone is free to come into the shop, open the fridge and take whatever they need.
Leslie Coffee Co. is the only restaurant participant in the new ICT Community Fridge Project, which includes six community fridges set up across the city. The others are at Dead Center Vintage, 626 E. Douglas; at CHD Boxing Club, 2505 E Ninth St.; at East High School, 2301 E. Douglas; at The Knox Center, 2924 E. Douglas; and at South High School, 701 W. 33rd. The refrigerators at the two high schools are placed outdoors and offer 24-hour access.
The group, founded in September, calls itself a “mutual aid initiative rooted in anti-capitalism, anti-racism and anti-imperialism,” and it asks people to stock the fridges with items that anyone in need is free to take, no questions asked.
Leslie Coffee Co. owner Sarah Leslie said she heard about the project and liked its concept. She had space in her cafe for a fridge and has to pay only for the electricity to keep it running. Her fridge was installed a couple of months ago and was painted by local artist Samantha Celeste Silva as a tribute to her late sister.
“It’s there for anyone in the community who needs something,” Leslie said. “It’s kind of like the blessings boxes you see around town, but because it’s a fridge, there’s the ability to donate perishable things.”
Donors keep the fridge stocked with items, and as long as the coffee shop is open, people can come in anytime and take what they need. The freezer is also full, and there’s an adjacent shelf for canned goods and things that don’t need refrigeration. Leslie said people visit the refrigerator every day: Some are people who come in and grab meals when they need them. Others are people who pick up groceries and take them back to their own refrigerators. Leslie said she accepts requests from people who are using the refrigerators and passes them along to her donors.
One of the reasons Leslie wanted to participate, she said, is because she noticed when she added outdoor seating last summer that there was a need in the Delano area. Customers sitting outside were frequently approached by people asking for money. Some said they felt unsafe.
Leslie didn’t agree that customers were unsafe, she said, and she believed people who were asking for help needed it. She wanted to find a way to help her customers look at the situation differently. So far, the addition of the refrigerator hasn’t caused any issues with her customers.
“Definitely from our perspective, we’re here for everybody,” she said. “There’s really no barrier to entry at a coffee shop. That’s our view.”
ICT Community Fridge has been putting on drive-through food drives every Saturday this month and will continue with drives at South High School and CHD Boxing Club from noon to 3 p.m. this Saturday and another at Dead Center Vintage from noon to 3 p.m. on May 29. The organizers prefer single-serving items and cans that don’t require can openers. They don’t accept homemade food, raw meat or alcohol, and ask people to bring things that are unopened.
“It’s mutual aid,” Leslie said. “You give with no real expectation. You give because you can. And anyone is allowed to take whatever they need. Somebody could come and take everything we have right now, and that’s okay because they’re saying that’s what they need.”
Find more information about the ICT Community Fridge Project at ictfreefood.org.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 11:47 AM.
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