‘It’s depressing’: Richmond community fridge vandalized, fresh produce torn up, thrown into street
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A community effort to combat food insecurity has been faced with yet another setback — a fifth act of vandalism to one of the 'RVA Community Fridges.' The community-led initiative currently has a total of 15 fridges: 14 currently available to the public and one which will soon open, according to the initiative's founder, Taylor Scott. Anyone in the community in need of food is allowed to frequent any of the organization's fridges, no questions asked. "You don't have to show us anything — you don't tell us where you live, where you are, how many [people are] in your household," Scott said. "You don't have to let us know if you grab something from the fridge, [but] you can always let us know if you drop something off, because we'll let people know." Richmond leaders discuss disinvesting $500,000 in delayed affordable housing project One of the fridges, which sits in front of Tequila and Deadlift's Gym at 2614 West Cary St., was vandalized on Tuesday, Dec. 4, according to the gym's owner Kerith Rae. "We came into work one morning and quite early, [at] 5:30 in the morning, and found the majority of the fridge had been trashed on the sidewalk and surrounding street," Rae said. "We feed over 100 people a day from this fridge — it's one of the busiest fridges for our community fridges and that's a huge loss of food and things that the community needs." Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.) Rae said the fridge had recently been filled before the vandalism with 30 loaves of freshly-made bread, 25 meals of fresh homemade pasta -- along with ingredients, containers and more. Recently, the fridge's extension cord was stolen, its Christmas lights were destroyed and more vegetables and fresh goods were thrown to the ground. "It's just incredibly difficult to continue to feed our food-insecure individuals if we have people that are trying to destroy a source of food for the community," Rae said. Scott told 8News that this effort began a little more than four years ago and that the vandalized fridge has been serving the community for two. State leaders gather to announce launch of ‘Gotta Have Childcare’ campaign "It's a little bittersweet that we've had the opportunity and ability to serve the community here for so long and it's right here — right now, same season, same month, [where] we're kind of just seeing an uptick in situations that we really just can't allow to continue to happen at the fridge because it's affecting the businesses here," Scott said. Rae's employees have cleaned the fridge, along with its surroundings, after each vandalism incident. "It's depressing and it's hard -- and I cannot continue to ask my team to clean up after this," Rae said. "And it's the fifth time the fridge has been vandalized in the last couple of weeks." Richard resident Bryanna Holly saw the incident posted to Instagram. She said she immediately felt pained by the situation. "It's important, it's necessary for some people, so just think about that before you do it," she said. Roastology Coffee opens in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood after move Scott told 8News that the fridge located on West Cary Street will be moved two blocks from its current location. She added that she will let 8News know of the new location and will also post updates to the RVA Community Fridge's website and social media platforms. You can find the organization on Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter. 8News learned that Scott and Rae are not involving the police in this situation for multiple reasons. According to them, there are no surveillance cameras around the fridge to guarantee privacy for those who use it. Additionally, they do not want the vandals to be punished in case they are dealing with mental health or other issues.
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A community effort to combat food insecurity has been faced with yet another setback — a fifth act of vandalism to one of the 'RVA Community Fridges.'
The community-led initiative currently has a total of 15 fridges: 14 currently available to the public and one which will soon open, according to the initiative's founder, Taylor Scott.
Anyone in the community in need of food is allowed to frequent any of the organization's fridges, no questions asked.
"You don't have to show us anything — you don't tell us where you live, where you are, how many [people are] in your household," Scott said. "You don't have to let us know if you grab something from the fridge, [but] you can always let us know if you drop something off, because we'll let people know."
Richmond leaders discuss disinvesting $500,000 in delayed affordable housing project
One of the fridges, which sits in front of Tequila and Deadlift's Gym at 2614 West Cary St., was vandalized on Tuesday, Dec. 4, according to the gym's owner Kerith Rae.
"We came into work one morning and quite early, [at] 5:30 in the morning, and found the majority of the fridge had been trashed on the sidewalk and surrounding street," Rae said. "We feed over 100 people a day from this fridge — it's one of the busiest fridges for our community fridges and that's a huge loss of food and things that the community needs."
Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)
Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)
Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)
Vandalism at the RVA Community Fridge on West Cary Street. (Photo provided to 8News by an anonymous viewer.)
Rae said the fridge had recently been filled before the vandalism with 30 loaves of freshly-made bread, 25 meals of fresh homemade pasta -- along with ingredients, containers and more.
Recently, the fridge's extension cord was stolen, its Christmas lights were destroyed and more vegetables and fresh goods were thrown to the ground.
"It's just incredibly difficult to continue to feed our food-insecure individuals if we have people that are trying to destroy a source of food for the community," Rae said.
Scott told 8News that this effort began a little more than four years ago and that the vandalized fridge has been serving the community for two.
State leaders gather to announce launch of ‘Gotta Have Childcare’ campaign
"It's a little bittersweet that we've had the opportunity and ability to serve the community here for so long and it's right here — right now, same season, same month, [where] we're kind of just seeing an uptick in situations that we really just can't allow to continue to happen at the fridge because it's affecting the businesses here," Scott said.
Rae's employees have cleaned the fridge, along with its surroundings, after each vandalism incident.
"It's depressing and it's hard -- and I cannot continue to ask my team to clean up after this," Rae said. "And it's the fifth time the fridge has been vandalized in the last couple of weeks."
Richard resident Bryanna Holly saw the incident posted to Instagram. She said she immediately felt pained by the situation.
"It's important, it's necessary for some people, so just think about that before you do it," she said.
Roastology Coffee opens in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood after move
Scott told 8News that the fridge located on West Cary Street will be moved two blocks from its current location. She added that she will let 8News know of the new location and will also post updates to the RVA Community Fridge's website and social media platforms. You can find the organization on Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.
8News learned that Scott and Rae are not involving the police in this situation for multiple reasons. According to them, there are no surveillance cameras around the fridge to guarantee privacy for those who use it. Additionally, they do not want the vandals to be punished in case they are dealing with mental health or other issues.
