In many ways, the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore, Maryland mirrors countless public libraries across the country.
Inside its Southeast Anchor branch, floor-to-ceiling glass windows meet brownstone brick, allowing natural sunlight to filter in, illuminating shelves upon shelves of books, kids coloring atop alphabet rugs, and readers milling about the stacks.
But tucked inside its first floor is something unique: The Pratt Free Market. It’s one of the country’s first 100% free and full-service grocery stores operated within a public library.
Every Wednesday from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. and Fridays from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m., customers are welcome to grab whatever they can fit in a library-supplied bag — entirely for free.
The market, which is 90% volunteer-run, is stocked like any other grocery store, with fresh produce, dry goods, paper goods, feminine hygiene products, baby essentials, and household items.
M'Balu “Lu” Bangura, the chief of equity and fair practices at Enoch Pratt Free Library, said the vision is simple: “Everyone eats.”
“No income requirements, no ID needed — judgement-free, just come as you are and fill a bag with groceries at NO COST,” Bangura wrote in an Instagram post. “This market is for the City. ALL ARE WELCOME!”
“Across the nation, one in every eight people face hunger, and libraries are increasingly on the front lines assisting in this struggle,” Darcell Graham, the interim CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, said when the market first opened.
“We hope the Pratt Free Market will serve as a hub for food and nutrition-based programming for our community.”
The Pratt Free Market is supported by the Maryland Food Bank and acts as a distribution partner for the hunger relief nonprofit.
“Too many people in Baltimore and across Maryland are struggling with food insecurity," Carmen Del Guercio, the president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, said.
“We are excited that this new partnership with the Enoch Pratt Free Library will increase access to fresh produce and other needed products for our neighbors.”
With SNAP recipients currently left in limbo during the government shutdown, community-facing organizations like the Pratt Free Market are needed more than ever. To date, the grocery store has served over 15,000 families.
Grassroots efforts like the Bmore Community Fridge Network are also proving vital. Since it launched in February, the women-founded organization has installed 17 fridges throughout the city — plus 11 food pantries and three pet pantries.
“We do everything without money,” co-founder Liz Miller, a Baltimore County Public Schools art teacher, told Baltimore Magazine. She said that they’ve avoided bureaucratic red tape by simply participating in mutual aid efforts and depending on the kindness of strangers.
“We had a guy, he lost his house, and he was like, ‘I have a full-size freezer and a full-size fridge, and it’s full of food, and we gotta be out in three days,” she said. “So anybody who wants to come by, DM me.’”
After volunteers came together to pick up and distribute the food, the same helpers found him a truck and a storage unit to keep him from losing his belongings.
“People were coming through for him,” Miller said. “And at the same time, he’s busy coming through for others.”
Julie Kichline, another co-founder of Bmore Community Fridge Network, said that Miller’s anecdote is standard practice for their community-focused efforts such as theirs.
She said: “Sometimes we help, sometimes we need help, and sometimes it’s both.”
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Header image via Kampus Production
