KarunaNews Story

Tucked inside the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore, Maryland, is one of the country’s first 100% free and full-service grocery stores operated within a public library. Two days a week, customers are welcome to get whatever they can fit in a library-supplied bag — entirely for free. The Pratt Free Market is supported by the Maryland Food Bank and acts as a distribution partner for the hunger relief nonprofit. Grassroots efforts like the Bmore Community Fridge Network are also proving vital. Since it launched in February, the women-founded organization has installed 17 fridges throughout the city — plus 11 food pantries and three pet pantries.“We do everything without money,” says co-founder Liz Miller.“We had a guy, he lost his house, and he was like, ‘I have a full-size freezer and a full-size fridge, and it’s full of food, and we gotta be out in three days’” After volunteers picked the food, the same helpers found him a truck and a storage unit to keep him from losing his belongings.