HONG KONG (AP) – Most people who go to Woosung Street, in Hong Kong’s traditional Jordanian neighborhood, are visiting its popular restaurants that serve everything from curries to seafood. Others may be going to a single refrigerator, painted blue, with a sign that says: “Give what you can give, take what you need to take”.
The refrigerator door outside a hockey academy opens to reveal that it is full of packets of instant noodles, cookies, cans of food and even socks and towels for those in need.
Ahmen Khan, founder of a sports foundation on the same street, said he was inspired to create a community refrigerator after watching a movie about other people doing the same thing. He found the refrigerator at a nearby garbage collection point and painted it blue.
“It’s like a dignity, when you go home, you open your refrigerator to get food,” said Khan. “So I want people to feel that way. Even if it’s a street, it’s their community, it’s their home, so they can just open it up and put food there and collect it. “
Khan’s blue refrigerator design went viral on social media and people have been showing up to leave food inside.
Janet Yeung came by recently with a plastic bag full of cookies, instant noodles and snacks. She stacked them carefully inside.
“I think doing good deeds doesn’t have to be on a large scale,” said Yeung. “A small act can already show our kindness and contribute to this world.”
A resident who would only identify himself as Yeung (unrelated to Janet Yeung) is one of the people who benefits from the blue refrigerator, which occasionally uses food or even masks left by donors.
“Those who really need can take things out of the fridge whenever they want without worrying, because the fridge is here 24 hours a day,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Zen Soo contributed to this report.
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“One Good Thing” is a series that highlights flashes of joy in difficult times – stories of people who find a way to make a difference, however small. Read the collection at https://apnews.com/hub/one-good-thing