Food pantry Village FREEdge evicted from Liberty City location
MIAMI - Police were on the scene Monday morning as the Village FREEdge was evicted from its location in Liberty City.
"We were told we couldn't take anything, any of our things from the inside which is our refrigerators and food we serve every day," said FREEdge founder Sherina Jones.
They managed to move some of their refrigerators and food from their old location to a temporary one a couple doors down, inside its sister group Root Collective.
Village FREEdge had been operating at 5507 NW 7th Avenue.
They tell us a lot of people depend on them for food. "We have been in the community since 2020 at the height of the pandemic, just putting out community refrigerators, but as the need grown in the community we figured out a new way to serve. We serve 6 days a week on a three-tier level of need. We're serving up to 300 families and individuals every day," Jones said.
Gator investments is the property manager. "They say Village FREEdge was evicted for non-payment."
"Our rent was going into a registry and one of the months the rain had gotten to bad and leaking inside. It got so bad we had to get our own personal roofer to come out and patch up some of the holes in the roof," said Danny Agnew. He's with Root Collective.
He and two others hold the lease. The eviction document shows shortfalls in rent and in some months no rent. He points out the place was in disrepair and they had to pay to fix some things.
"The whole reason we stopped paying rent in the first place is because the issues with the structure of the building that they never met on their end," he said.
For those who rely on food here for survival, folks here say they plan to keep serving, just a couple doors down. "People need help and without it I really don't know where they're going to go. The pantry is critical to their existence," said volunteer Theresa Agnew.
There are three groups that operate together, one for food, another for medical help and a social service group. They said their goal now is raise money to get a new place where they can all be under one roof to provide services.