Community Partner Spotlight: Baltimore Fridge Network

As community schools, each of the six Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) neighborhood conversion charter schools provide a wide range of services beyond academics to their students and families. From food pantries to free uniforms to healthcare and parent support groups and other outreach, services vary from school to school, but the goal remains the same: Meet the needs of the whole child and family to ensure better success in and out of the classroom.

BCP is fortunate to have many official community partners and lead agencies that offer year-round support and seasonal assistance (holiday meals, gifts, school supplies, etc.). We have featured many of these wonderful nonprofits in our news.

This month, we showcase a movement that is assisting many BCP pantries in Baltimore’s underserved neighborhoods where our schools are located. The BMore Community Fridge Network (BCFN) is not a nonprofit. It is a group of volunteers who make food to support the 30 or so fridges in the network with a goal of addressing food insecurity.

Founded in March 2025, the mutual-aid network quickly expanded from four initial locations to more than 30 active refrigerator sites across Baltimore City and County. BCFN volunteers provide meals, produce, and other food. There is no set menu, just requirements that each meal is labeled and dated. Individuals and families may use any fridge in the network with 24/7, no-questions-asked access.

Volunteers share photos of what they’ve placed in fridges on the BCFN Facebook page and BCFN Instagram page. Both pages explain the process and provide a fridge map.

The Fridges near BCP Schools:

Govans:

21212 – 5828 York Rd.
21212 – York Road & Notre Dame Lane

Pimlico:

21215 – 3811 Park Heights Ave.
21215 – 5221 Florence Ave.
21215 – 2901 Virginia Ave.

Frederick:

21223 – 1800 W. Fayette St.
21223 – 1502 McHenry St.
21223 – 424 S. Pulaski St.

Hampstead Hill, Wolfe Street, City Springs:

21224 – 156 N. Lakewood Ave.
21224 – 123 N. Linwood Ave.
21231 – 401 N. Chester St.

Last fall, the Johns Hopkins 21st Century Cities Initiative conducted its Baltimore Area Survey, collecting 1,271 responses from Baltimore City and County residents about medical, utility, food, housing, and transportation expenses. The takeaways on food are concerning and deepen the need for the BCFN:

Around two in five Baltimore-area residents were food insecure in the last 12 months, with roughly one in five classified as being very food insecure.
Around 50% of Baltimore City residents and about 25% of Baltimore County residents are food insecure.
The future cost of food is concerning to three in five residents, with lower income residents experiencing the most worries: Nine in 10 residents earning less than $30,000 reported concerns about grocery prices. (Source for data: JHU survey)

Liz Miller, a Baltimore County Public Schools art teacher, is one of the BCFN co-founders. In the Baltimore magazine article on the BCFN’s founding, she explained, “We do everything without money,” and admitted that they don’t know the volume of food that moves through the BCFN, which “functions more like a barter system than an organization with paid employees, record keeping—and bureaucratic red tape.”