BY JADA CAMILLE
Organizers from a Midwood
nonprofi t are still working
to identify the looters who
made off with their community
fridge earlier this month.
The fridge, which usually
sits in front of the Pakistani
American Youth Organization’s
Coney Island Avenue offi
ce, has provided hundreds of
families with food and sustenance
amid the pandemic.
According to Waqil Ahmed,
one of the organization’s founders,
members discovered the
theft upon returning from one
of the many food banks hosted
by the nonprofi t. He says surveillance
footage shows two
crooks waiting outside of
PAYO’s offi ce for around 30
minutes the night of Friday,
Sept. 17 before making off with
the appliance.
The community fridge was
born, Ahmed said, out of people’s
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need for, but inability to
attend, their food banks.
“Sometimes people cannot
come to our food banks.
They say ‘Can you guys hold it
or can you guys deliver it,’ so
we decided to have a fridge,”
he said “During COVID that
was a good thing because we
had people that didn’t want to
come stand in line because we
have big lines — sometimes
around 400 people.”
As of Sept. 30, a GoFundMe
to replace the group’s fridge
has raised more than $2,600
toward a $5,000 goal.
But PAYO is just one of
many nonprofi ts and organizations
that have taken to online
fundraising platforms like Go-
FundMe for aid since March,
2020. Madison Jones, north
east regional spokesperson for
GoFundMe, says communities
heavily relied on fundraisers
during the pandemic.
A surveillance image of crooks swiping the Pakistani American Youth Organization’s community fridge.
GoFundMe
“Over the past year, organizers
across Brooklyn approached
the food insecurity
conditions exacerbated by the
pandemic with a ‘for us, by us’
mentality,” said Jones. “Together,
they established community
fridges and pantries all
across the city to ensure that
no neighbor went hungry.”
Clinton Hill’s One Love
Community Fridge, a community
based response to the long
lines at food banks, was able to
raise over $17,000 online.
According to their Go-
FundMe, with donors’ help,
they are “able to install, stock,
and maintain fridges and pantries
outside public schools
in Brooklyn” supplying them
with “fresh seasonal fruits,
vegetables & pre-packed nutritional
foods along with seasonal
essential products.”
Similarly, Obocho’s Community
Food Pantry, an organization
started by 11-
year-old Obocho Peters, used
GoFundMe to raise funds for
their holiday food pantries.
For Peters’ fi rst giveaway in
Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, he
and his mother hand-picked
food for 99 families at the grocery
store. The community’s
response made Peters want to
expand his impact.
“In order to help my community,
I need support from
other people. That’s where the
GoFundMe comes in,” he said.
In May of 2020, Peters was
named The Hero of the Month
by Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Adams, which led to
an infl ux of donations. With
over $3,000 raised, he’s hoping
he can continue to host his
monthly food pantries — just
in time for the holidays.
“Together we can give families
this gift of love,” his fundraiser
reads.
Cold blooded!
Midwood community fridge
stolen as food banks continue
to provide crucial service
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