Man with empty fridge fights food insecurity

Have you ever seen a fridge walking around uptown Saint John?

Uptown Fridge, the walking appliance fighting food insecurity, is run by Jesse Wright, a man from the south end.

Wright says the idea began as a joke with a friend, “It did begin somewhat as a joke because grocery prices were getting expensive about two years ago, and I was also training to run the Fundy Footpath. My friend and I thought it would be funny if I started training with some sort of weight.

“Not long after, I saw a news story in the U.K. about a guy who had been arrested for carrying a full-size fridge because the police thought he had stolen it, but he was actually just carrying it around to train. Then, we joked that we should attach a bar fridge, and then I could raise money to buy groceries at the same time as I was training,” said Wright.

He came across a pamphlet from Operation Feed with statistics on poverty rates across the country. The pamphlet also explained poverty rates across New Brunswick, including Saint John, more specifically, the percentage of children who were living in poverty or missing meals in the city.

“It just became a real pivot point to having to do something about it,” he said, “I had the fridge for a long time and the pack for a long time. I only had one of each and did not want to ruin it, as I am not an engineer at heart. I finally put them together and started walking around.”

When he started walking around in September of 2025, Wright intended to raise awareness for local organizations such as Operation Feed Saint John, P.U.L.S.E., Romero House, and food banks.

Wright walked by as many restaurants as possible because he felt that the message would strike people while they are out. “You know, not that people should feel guilty about enjoying a meal at a restaurant, but it might strike a chord with people,” he said.

Wright says he started walking around with the fridge to be an ‘uptown weirdo turning heads and starting conversations’, but it turned into more than he could have imagined.

“People showed overwhelming support and interest. People were asking me if they could give me money, if they could give me food, if I was running for mayor, or if this was a publicity stunt for something more important,” said Wright.

This led Wright to create social media pages for the cause, which he named Uptown Fridge.

“The reason it’s called Uptown Fridge is that is where I started. I would walk from the south end and do a figure eight pattern around Prince William, Canterbury, Jermaine, Water St., and down by the boardwalk, too.”

Wright had no fundraising or distance goals when he started, but after receiving the public’s support and began to gain traction locally, he set the goal of walking 1000 kilometres and raising $10,000.

“We just crossed $4200, and I have walked 309 kilometres with it. So we’re almost halfway toward the financial goal and about a third of the way towards the distance goal,” he said.

Wright’s longest trip, wearing the 35lb fridge was 27.3 kilometres. He says he tries to do longer distances when possible.

The response from the community has been positive, as the most frequent comment people make is that Uptown Fridge is unique and refreshing to see. However, a few comments have fine-tuned the way Wright operates.

“It was not negativity I faced at the start, but people would ask me where the money was going. At the time, I did not have any connections to anyone as I was just starting. I had a lot of people who would say, ‘I would give you 100 bucks right now if I knew where it was going, but as far as I know, you are just this random Saint John guy with a fridge,’ so that made me do two things:

First, that made me reach out to all these food security organizations so I could start making contact and contributing to them, and second, I take photos when I am dropping off the food. It is clear as day that this money is not going to any overhead or salary. The photos add a layer of transparency and accountability.”

All the money Wright collects goes directly towards groceries. He takes his car to the grocery store and purchases food depending on the lists he receives from food security organizations. Afterwards, he goes to drop off the food and takes a picture with someone from the organization.

Wright thinks the most important concept for people to take away from the Uptown Fridge project is that food insecurity, poverty, and homelessness are social issues, not individual issues.

“A big part of my project is having conversations like this to remove the stigma. A lot of people, including people who are in need, might have internalized these concepts that a homeless person is homeless because they failed, or a family that cannot afford to feed their child because they failed as parents; this is just completely untrue.”

Now with immense support, both from the community and from his upgraded backpack support straps, Wright will continue to carry around the Uptown Fridge as he keeps fighting food insecurity.

“The fact that we live in such a prosperous country, and we still have people who go hungry and cannot make ends meet, it’s such a clear indicator that it’s a failure of our social systems and not a failure of individual efforts.”