It’s Thursday, July 11.
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Good morning, readers.
Food insecurity affects 44 million Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including 1.2 million North Carolinians.
Mariela Hernandez, a rapid rehousing case manager for Orange County, knows how easily a household can go from stability to not having enough money to buy food. After her husband was incarcerated in 2016, Hernandez’s family lost its main breadwinner and Hernandez and her three children struggled to get by.
After seeking assistance from local organizations, such as PORCH and TABLE, and building a support network, Hernandez and her family were able to recover. Now, Hernandez connects others in her community with resources when they find themselves facing food insecurity.
“There’s so much data and reports done about food inequities,” Hernandez says. “But when you hear a story, you can make it more meaningful.”
In Durham, a local organization has grown from a group of passionate individuals into an expansive network of volunteers, partners, and coordinators with a shared belief in access to free food for all.
Durham Community Fridges—which launched its first community fridge stocked with fresh produce, premade sandwiches, containers of soup, and loaves of bread at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church on West Main Street in 2022—now has another location at Part & Parcel in Lakewood and plans are in the works to open a third.
Freedge, a community fridge database, currently lists 375 community fridges across the United States, a growing number that reflects growing food insecurity.
“We’ve seen a lot of … food rescue orgs utilize the fridge as places to take the food they’re rescuing instead of certain pantries,” says DCF organizer Taylor Holenbeck. “It’s a much more accessible and immediate place to get food.”
We have a new paper out on stands this week, or find all of our content—including our Durham Best of the Triangle winners—on our website.
Have a good Thursday.
—Jane
Durham
Durham County Library secured a $40,000 grant for its Maker + STEAM program which offers technological and artistic resources to the community.
Wake
The Raleigh-Apex branch of the NAACP called on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a federal investigation into the prosecution of Henderson Atwater. Read our reporting on Atwater’s trial and release from jail.
Raleigh real estate prices aren’t dropping.
Orange
Southeastern Camera, with locations in Carrboro and Raleigh, celebrates 30 years of bringing film to life.
North Carolina
State lawmakers questioned the CEO of private nonprofit NCInnovation, dedicated to commercializing research out of the state’s universities, that was awarded $500 million in the state budget about its use of the money. Read more about NCInnovation.
Today’s weather
Sunny with a high of 92 degrees, a chance of showers and storms.
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