KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The menu is always changing at the Knox Pride Community Fridge near Sam Duff Memorial Park in South Knoxville.
Donna Braquet, along with others, volunteers with the Knoxville Rainbow Library and ensures there is always something to eat.
Braquet packs meals like egg salad sandwiches, chicken burritos and spaghetti into the refrigerator daily.
"We can fill it to the brim and within two hours, it's completely empty," Braquet said, after dropping off sandwiches and chocolate almond milk to the fridge on a rainy Wednesday.
According to Knox Pride, the fridge serves between 50 and 100 meals every day.
There's a food pantry right next door at Knox Pride's Community Center off Chapman Highway, which helps about 100 people each week.
John Camp, the executive director of Knox Pride, grew up in Gatlinburg and moved to Knoxville in the early 2000s for college.
He said the community center's pantry is different than others in East Tennessee because people don't have to answer any questions about themselves to receive food. People can pick out what they want, instead of receiving pre-packaged food. It is also available for the entire Knoxville community, regardless of anyone's identity.
The pantry is in Knox Pride's thrift store, but the plan is to move it next door to a larger space that the nonprofit owns.
Camp said Knox Pride hopes to soon operate the food pantry like a grocery store. The vision is for it to be a space where people can go and pick out the food they want and the only difference will be they don't have to pay for it, according to Camp.
"The way that our thrift store is set up, you can come in and shop with dignity and not have the stigma... You feel like you're having a normal shopping experience, you just happen to not pay for it," they said. "So, we want to set up a grocery store in the same way."
Knox Pride also provides other services specifically for members of the LGBTQ+ community, like support groups.
"We have our classes like lifestyle classes, budgeting, interview skills, resume building," Camp said. "We do resource fairs, job fairs, support groups of different varieties, teen groups, and then community events like bingo nights, or cinema club, trivia nights and karaoke."
Camp said he received family support growing up as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the 1990s, but he knows not everyone does.
"I was lucky," they said. "I think a lot of folks weren't as lucky and they could have used the services. And support is really the key, especially when you're developing — learning who you are and seeing strong queer people doing good work makes you feel better about who you are."
Both Braquet and Camp said there are opportunities for people who want to help.
Donations to Knox Pride can be made here.
The Knox Pride Community Center is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.