NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As prices continue to soar at the grocery store, a group in North Little Rock is making sure everyone gets the food they need.
Down a quiet street in North Little Rock sits a house unlike any other. The kitchen outside may make you do a double take, but a closer look will reveal nothing is out of place.
“It’s hard enough being out here on the streets with nothing to yourself, hardly any clothes to keep warm, no shelter and then never knowing where your next meal is going to come from,” Arkansas Community Advocates founder Zachary Karr said.
Karr opened ACA’s first community fridge in 2020. Volunteers would fill it up and those struggling would take what they need.
“It’s been inspirational to see how many people it’s helped,” Karr said.
As the days went on, doors on the fridge opened and closed more frequently.
“That food would usually last about three or four days, now on average it lasts one to two days,” Karr said.
As the price for food increases, a need to feed grows.
“People are really struggling, it’s getting much harder out there,” Karr said.
In the last few months, ACA has added a second fridge and a second location to help feed as many families as they can, but volunteers are seeing an impact from inflation too.
“We have to try harder and harder just to have the same results, just to help the same number of people,” Karr said.
Karr said fridges are stocked every Friday. They are hoping with more volunteers to stock them twice a week.
“There are people that are working paycheck to paycheck, just barely making it. [They’re] having to choose between ‘Am I going to pay rent this month or am I going to have food for my family?’,” Karr said. “It makes me want to try that much harder to be an example for people in the community.”
Karr said they hope to expand into a third location to meet the growing need.