Village Freedge Inc

The Village Free(dge) has been a consistent provider of nourishment for the food insecure in Miami since the pandemic. The Free(dge) is open 6 days a week and currently serves over 250 people a day. Since inception, our goal has been to provide an essential service to people who need it most, when times are most dire. Often times, many people visiting the Free(dge) come to get their only meal of the day.

In addition to providing food, we have partnered with other organizations to provide free healthcare, case management and other essential services, with the Free(dge) being the first point of contact.

We have done this for free, with the upmost humanity, love and compassion for each person who patronized our safe haven.

Today all of that comes to an end as we have been evicted from our store front.

Gator Leasing, a multimillion dollar real estate company who owns over 1 million acres of land across the US, decided they wanted to EVICT us from the property. The building we were renting from them for $3800/month was condemned by the city after we signed our lease and we legally withheld the rent when the roof caved in. Soon after we found out the 20 year old roof needed to be replaced completely. This had been after multiple attempts to get the landlord to fix the issues.

Since withholding rent, we were have been in a protracted legal battle to get the landlord to fix the roof (which our lease explicitly states that this is the duty of the landlord). When we found out the landlord was not acting in good faith, we actually ended up spending our hard earned money to patch the roof to the best of our ability.

Throughout this process we were still serving 250-300 people daily and running our full scale operation, even under the undue stress causes by a roof that caved in and leaked repeatedly.

Today, after the eviction, we are feeling defeated. We need the support of the community to continue our efforts of meeting the emergent needs of our most vulnerable population, the unsheltered and the food insecure. We are asking you to make a tax deductible donation to the Village Free(dge) to help us find a new place to serve.

Anything helps. God Bless you all.

-Sherina (Founder of the Village Free(dge)