Saratoga Free Fridge

07/04/2024

Check out tomorrow’s Freedom Fest at High Rock Park!

Celebrating the 197th Anniversary of abolition in New York State. 💛

06/18/2024

⚠️IMPORTANT UPDATE | EVENT CANCELED⚠️

Please read our statement below regarding the cancellation of our upcoming Juneteenth event.

Today is Juneteenth, a day when Black people should be resting, enjoying family, and celebrating community. But there is little reason for joy in Saratoga Springs today, and the black community is once again reminded of the generational plague that continues to persist within the border of our small town in Upstate New York. As a result, Saratoga BLM has had to make the difficult decision to cancel our 4th annual Juneteenth event.
In 1925, the Frederick Allen Lodge was founded as a sanctuary for Black Saratogians and visitors to gather and build community, in response to their exclusion from other spaces in the city. In the following years, a vibrant Black community thrived, and people gathered throughout the West Side and along Congress Street. Oral history continues to be passed down through generations about the late nights at Golden Grill and Jack’s Harlem Club. Unsurprisingly one by one these spaces were systematically dismantled through targeted closures. And we don’t have to imagine how it took place, look at what has happened to Gaffney’s, since city officials, police, and white community members began to deem its clientele too Black for the streets of Saratoga Springs. It’s a vicious cycle of fear-mongering, propaganda, and over-policing that seeks to destroy what is left of our community. And now, the Frederick Allen Lodge is all that remains of what used to be.
When Saratoga BLM was ostracized by Commissioner Tim Coll and Mayor John Safford, who, despite their public assertions, made it clear that we are not welcome in public spaces in Saratoga Springs, we too sought sanctuary at the Frederick Allen Lodge, the one place we believed we could gather to celebrate the legacy of community in Black Saratoga. That was until we got a call from members of the Lodge saying they had received a call from a state agency about an anonymous complaint regarding our upcoming Juneteenth event within 12 hours of publicizing the event. As of today, our event has been canceled and because of the last minute nature, we are unable to reschedule at this time.
This certainly must be an inflection point. Is this truly how we want things to run in our city? Day after day, year after year, generation after generation, the black community in the City of Saratoga Springs has had to fight to co-exist with white people and it comes to an end today. From this point on there will be no placating, no bowing down, no asking for permission for the rights afforded to everyone else but our people. Saratoga BLM will continue to organize and resist any effort to destroy our people. We will not cower in the shadows and accept this type of attack, for this summer we will be free.

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🌟🌍🌈JUNETEENTH 2024🌈🌍🌟

Kick back with Saratoga BLM and friends this Friday June 21 for Juneteenth!

Join us for a night of community and celebration at the historic

🌟Live Music & Poetry
🌟Free Food
🌟Cash Bar
🌟Tabling from our friends
🌟Shop from local 518 vendors!

10/26/2022

Food insecurity is no joke and it’s only made harder by inflation. So we will do our part to help out the best we can. So we are happy to announce our third annual chicken dinner giveaway.

Starting in November, anybody (no questions asked) can pick up either a whole chicken or a single serving chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy for free. Every week, for all of November and December. We will take orders Monday through Friday, pick up will be Sunday between 9 and 4. Just call and leave a name and number.

We start taking orders November 1st. There will be additional pick up days for the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

(No donations necessary. We had a good year and we would like to pass it on.)

08/09/2022

It’s a warm one today, grab a water and something to eat!

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DONATE on Venmo and Cashapp: saratogafreefridge or drop off items in need 24/7. Feel free to message us anytime to find out what we need.

BUSINESS OWNERS: If you own a business and would like to donate food or host a free fridge please contact us at [email protected]!

06/29/2022

Only $100 left to raise! THANK YOU!!!! This is our first large mutual aid request and it looks like we will be able to fulfill it in under 24 hours! If 10 people can give $10 our community will have prevented an eviction!

⚠️URGENT REQUEST⚠️

We have a young community member who will be facing eviction if she does not have $800 towards her rent by July 5th.

After contracting Covid-19 in April 2022 she began to fall behind on bills. In the last two weeks she has been recovering from a medical emergency and is in urgent need of support from her community.

As she would like to remain anonymous, we are directing donations to the venmo and cashapp. 100% of the money with “Prevent Eviction” in the memo will be given to her.

06/28/2022

⚠️URGENT REQUEST⚠️

We have a young community member who will be facing eviction if she does not have $800 towards her rent by July 5th.

After contracting Covid-19 in April 2022 she began to fall behind on bills. In the last two weeks she has been recovering from a medical emergency and is in urgent need of support from her community.

As she would like to remain anonymous, we are directing donations to the venmo and cashapp. 100% of the money with “Prevent Eviction” in the memo will be given to her.

05/29/2022

Extra subs from our event at the Saratoga Free Fridge found at 69 Beekman Street.

05/23/2022

It’s basically summer right? At least that’s what the ice cream in the freezer told us. Hope everyone was able to find water and shade this weekend. This week we will be stocking up on cookout essentials for the weekend. What’re your cookout must haves?🌈🍎

Our pantry is currently limited due to storage restrictions, we’re working on that :)

DONATE:
Venmo-
Cashapp- $saratogafreefridge
*Always accepting unopened items such as water, juice, granola bars. Feel free to drop these items off yourself or coordinate a large food donation via email.

Do you know a business that would like to host a free fridge? EMAIL US [email protected]

03/09/2022

We’re expanding!!!!!!!!!!! Help us pick out the next design for Take #2 of the Saratoga Free Fridge. Comment which design is your favorite and the one with the most votes will be chosen :)

Support the free fridge mutual aid project and donate on venmo and cashapp
venmo:
cashapp: $saratogafreefridge

Have a business that is interesting in hosting a free fridge?
Contact us at [email protected]

03/04/2022

Mutual Aid event has started! Swing by to grab any of these items that you may need for free!! We’ll be here until 8:30 PM

02/24/2022

Stop by Create Community Studios on Friday March 4th for our mutual aid and open mic event as a part of the CREATE-a-thon fundraising weekend.

We will be collecting donations for C.R.E.A.T.E., Saratoga BLM, and the Saratoga Free Fridge so that they can continue to provide essential services to our community at little to no cost.

As a way to give back there will be an array of free items available to the community during the day including hot food, and a celebration of the arts at night with artists across the Capital Region for the open mic!

*If you are interested in donating items please see the attached list to bring to the event, OR arrange a pick up by contacting [email protected] OR send a monetary donation to the Saratoga Free Fridge on Venmo or Cashapp which can be found as saratogafreefridge