For decades, the Community of Congregations has served as a beacon of unity for locals from all faith backgrounds throughout the Oak Park and River Forest area. In recent years it has worked hard to build its connections to faith communities in Austin.
Now the food pantries, a mission of the organization, opened its sixth pantry which is its second in Austin. On Sunday, June 28 volunteers welcomed guests to New Jehovah MB Baptist Church. The church is located at 1101 S. Austin Boulevard.
Since its inception, the Community Fridge Project has grown quickly, maintaining six public, outdoor community fridges that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Operations are simple; local volunteers regularly stock, clean and maintain the fridges, and anyone is able to take food at any time — no ID, no cost, no questions.
Four pantries are located in Oak Park: Boulevard Presbyterian Church (607 Harvard St.), Edwin Gale House (124 Kenilworth Ave.), Grace Episcopal Church (924 Lake St.) and United Lutheran Church (409 Greenfield St.); and two in Austin: A House in Austin (533 N. Pine Ave.) and now at New Jehovah MB Baptist Church (1101 S. Austin Boulevard).
In March 2025, board member Karen McMillin pitched the idea of creating and maintaining outdoor food pantries and community fridges for locals in need. The organization’s board gave the initiative quick and unanimous approval.
Enter the Community Fridge Project — a grassroots, volunteer-led program housed under the Community of Congregations working to reduce food insecurity in the immediate area.
For McMillin, an Oak Park resident, the motivation behind the idea was simple — food insecurity amongst locals is often an invisible struggle, but one which is more widespread than people think.
“It’s a simple, human way to care for our neighbors,” she said. “These fridges provide immediate relief to individuals and families who may not qualify for or feel comfortable accessing traditional food assistance.”
In addition, locals looking to help out can also do their part by leaving what they can — extra groceries, nonperishable pantry staples, unopened to-go meals, and even health and personal care essentials.
McMillin says that apart from other types of food outlets, including food pantries and government assistance programs, what makes the Community Fridge Project unique to the area is that there are no paid staff and the project is 100% community run.
“Together, we’re building a community where neighbors support neighbors and nutritious food is accessible to everyone,” McMillin said.
Boasting upwards of 90 regular volunteers, McMillin says since the Community Fridge Project began, she estimates that several hundred people from the area are served from the six pantry locations.
McMillin says for the Community Fridge Project, having multiple locations sprinkled throughout the area was an important goal.
“We want to provide access in all areas of Oak Park and in the western Austin area,” she said. “Each serves a different neighborhood with different demographics — houses versus unhoused, or both.”
Fortunately, McMillin adds, the group has not run into any major issues with maintenance of the pantries and fridges in the year and a half since opening.
“They have continued to run in some brutally hot weather, as well as the very cold winter we just experienced,” she said. “We are learning as we go.”
In maintaining multiple of these community fridges and mini food pantries across the area, McMillin says the Community Fridge Project demonstrates that locals truly care about the well-being of their neighbors.
“I don’t know that this model would work in every community, but Oak Park is a pretty special place, and this project is just one of the ways that we prove it every single day as we feed people.”
Alongside interfaith liturgical events, the Community of Congregations regularly coordinates neighborhood vigils, supports nonprofit educational services, provides assistance for local unhoused populations and area organizations, advocates for local senior programming, and annually preps holiday food and gift baskets for low-income individuals and their families.
For more information about the Community Fridge Project, including opportunities for food donation, monetary support and volunteering, visit communityfridgeproject.org.