BATON ROUGE — After a major makeover, community art gallery Yes We Cannibal is reopening its community fridge and pantry off Government Street.

Cofounders Mat Keel and Liz Lessner said they needed to rebuild the service because of the wear and tear continued use of the pantry and fridge caused.

The fridge and pantry were built after Hurricane Ida in 2021 to provide access to produce, fresh food and other supplies for those who lost power or were displaced across the community.

"They always know that there’s a place that they can feed their child if they need to, period,” Keel said.

The pantry and fridge were vandalized in August 2022 which caused a brief shutdown of the service. It opened shortly after, but the organizers said a makeover was needed to continue the service they wanted.

"So we want to make sure it's secure for people and that when it opens it's actually usable again," Lessner said.

Yes We Cannibal raised $3,000 for the renovation project. Now, they hope the community will be generous with their donations of food and other supplies. The group is also in need of volunteers.

"We have a place above the fridge for cleaning supplies. And people have always done a good job with that, but we really kind of want to institutionalize a little more so people can take responsibility for that. That’s a really big need,” Keel said.