17-02-2025
Center Township installs free vending machine
A free vending machine offering essential items is now set up in the lobby of the Center Township's office.
The vending machine, provided by Noblesville-based nonprofit reversebus, offers anyone essential items, such as ramen, baby wipes and pacifiers, cold medicine, a toothbrush and toothpaste and more, at no cost.
All visitors have to do is ask for a NFT access pass from the township's front desk; no personal information or ID is needed. Those who use the vending machine, called freevend, can choose up to four items per day.
According to its website, freevend is a 'network of vending machines dispensing free essential items to individuals experiencing poverty or episodic homelessness.'
The vending machine is the result of a test trial the township has with reversebus that runs through April and is costing the township approximately $3,000.
Center Township Trustee Andrew Durham said he heard about the service at a recent conference where its founder Dimitri Snowden spoke and felt it could complement the township's regular assistance and its appointment-only Hands Up food pantry.
The township installed the vending machine a little more than two weeks ago, and so far it has been popular. When the Tribune visited Thursday, many of the items were out of stock.
Durham said the biggest decision to make in the next few months is whether or not to continue funding the vending machine long term and decide if there's a better place for it other than the township's office. That will likely require reaching out to other service organizations in the city for a possible collaboration.
'For me to do this long-term, we're going to have to weigh those options and see what the need is, but I would love it to be more of a collaborative effort,' Durham said. 'It could be government, private or even nonprofit. That's next, to see if there's any interest from other agencies and see if it's something the community would like to see here.'
