Missoula Free Fridge Providing Food Access and Donation Sites

Missoula’s first “Community Free Fridge” was unveiled this Sunday following lots of hard work from volunteers.

Located near the corner of Kensington and Kemp (in the Franklin-to-Fort) Neighborhood, the fridge and pantry shelf are already well stocked with frozen meat, gallons of milk, fresh cut fruit and various non-perishable.

A sister project of the Montana BIPOC Mutual Aid and modeled after similar projects in Seattle and Portland, the Missoula Food Share project already has plans for more fridges in different neighborhoods.

The idea of take what you need, and leave what you can is used in similar projects like “Little Free Libraries” and even “Little Free Pantries” around town. However access to perishable and fresh food requires a bit more infrastructure. In addition to building a structure to house the fridge, volunteers will also be tasked with regularly cleaning the fridge, checking the temperature, and ensuring that any food that does not meet the guidelines is removed.

Organizers ask that you only donate unexpired, unopened food items. If you are uncertain of the use-by date, please throw it away. They do accept pre-made meals but ask that all ingredients & the date food was prepared are listed and that meals are prepped with a mask and gloves, and decontaminate the containers before stocking them in the free fridges. The complete list of guidelines is posted on the fridge and can also be found here:

If you would like to volunteer, know of a business or home that could host a fridge, or have any questions, email them at missoulacommunityfridge@gmail.com