Fridge donated to Fort Worth non-profit after theft

A Fort Worth-area non-profit has a new refrigerator after its old one was stolen by thieves.

Funky Town Fridge offers fresh food and other items to people in need for free. The non-profit is a "Give what you can, take what you need" service for those facing food insecurity.

Funky Town Fridge has been around since 2020 and has grown to five fridges across the city.

The founder learned Friday night that a thief stole one of its fridges in the non-profit's newest location in Fort Worth's Stop Six community.

"The fridge was stolen Thursday night, Friday morning after I left. I do a night walk here every night, just to check on things, and I just feel like someone may have been watching me," Funky Town Farm manager Jahmal Huckaby said.

"Me and the farm managers we always had a dream of being able to give the people from our neighborhood access to healthy foods and we finally started to do that," said Kendra Richardson, the Founder of Funky Town Fridge. "This fridge hadn’t even been out for 3 weeks. Here's a senior apartment complex, there's a halfway house, there's an apartment complex full of kids and families and now somebody has essentially come and taken food out of their mouths because they got greedy."

Richardson said the location was the first with a brand-new appliance at a cost of more than $2,200.

"This Family Dollar in front of us is always broken into. So I just knew eventually they would come back this way being curious about all the construction back here," Huckaby said.

Shortly after the story aired on FOX 4 on Monday evening, Richardson said someone offered to donate a new refrigerator.

"She actually lives right around the corner. She wants to remain anonymous, but she lives not too far, but she donated the fridge," Huckaby said. "It feels really good that the community is looking after us."

Others offered to donate cash and food.

HOW TO DONATE: https://www.funkytownfridge.org/donate

Richardson said she plans to find a better way to secure the appliances.

She said she is still hopeful that the thieves return the stolen fridge.

The new fridge opens in about a month and the non-profit plans to secure it, including setting up lights and cameras. 

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