We are 8th grade students at Ephraim Curtis Middle School in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Our Civics Action Project focuses on food insecurity in rural and lower income communities. For our project, we have researched the ways people and organizations have tried to reduce food insecurity in these areas. Many people across Massachusetts suffer from food insecurity and many of them do not live near a food bank. Community refrigerators help to solve this problem for food insecure people who need to access nutritious foods like meat and vegetables. Since the early parts of the pandemic when food insecurity was at its peak, there was a high demand for food and not many food banks offer foods other than shelf stable products like dry and canned goods. Community refrigerators provide a simple way to bring fresh meat, fruit, vegetables, and other perishable items to people in need. However, there are many problems regarding the maintenance and cleanliness of the fridges. If the Massachusetts Senate were to pass Bill S.2760, sponsored by Senator Adam Gomez, the state will begin the process of adopting new rules to ensure safety and cleanliness for community refrigerators as well as guidelines for installing and managing new refrigerators. Unfortunately, Senate Bill S.2760 does not provide funding for new refrigerators, as all fridges will have to be donated by people or organizations. In addition, the fridges would have to be managed by a volunteer. While this bill is an important step towards lowering rates of food insecurity, we are also asking Governor Maura Healey to appreciate funds necessary to help implement and maintain these fridges in communities throughout Massachusetts. For these reasons, we urge you to sign this petition and help lower rates of food insecurity in communities across rural Massachusetts. 

In Massachusetts, there are close to 1.8 million people who suffer from food insecurity according to a 2021 survey by the Greater Boston Food Bank. Most of these people are able to receive food from large organizations like the Greater Boston Food Bank and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, but the numbers show that only around 500,000-600,000 people are actually served by these organizations. That means that less than one-third of all people who suffer from food insecurity are receiving support from Massachusetts food banks. Having community refrigerators in more locations (those further away from the large food banks) would greatly increase the amount of people who can get access to food. Moreover, community refrigerators will allow more people to have access to healthier and more nutritious food that is good for their bodies.

 Community fridges allow smaller food banks and anyone willing to donate to provide healthy and nutritional food like meat, fruits, and vegetables to people in need without forcing them to travel long distances. By supporting this petition, you can put health regulations in place for these fridges to make them safer for people to use. Further, your signature can help us get the attention of the Massachusetts legislature as well as get this bill released and approved by the senate and, hopefully, Governor Maura Healey will approve it along with some money to provide  and maintain refrigerators.

Thank you- Cosette Greece, Mackenzie Cooley, Alex Tottenham, Ethan Wen, Elliot Saux