COMMUNITY FRIDGES
A mutual aid ecosystem
14 APRI L 2 0 2 1 GIVING BACK
of neighbors helping each other
BY ESTIE PYPER
@ESTIEPYPER @ESTIEPYPER
You may have spotted them
throughout the neighborhood.
They’re large, usually colorful,
and stocked with food. Free
food. Community fridges have
popped up all over New York
City as a grassroots response
to local food insecurity, which has been
exacerbated by the economic impacts
of COVID-19. There are 80 established
fridges in the city so far, with more on
the way. But for some, the demand is
so high that it has been an uphill battle
to keep the fridges running.
Every fridge needs a “host” — usually
a business — willing and able to provide
a power supply. Just finding a host to
meet a community fridge’s needs can
take months. On top of that, a physical
fridge and shelter needs to be built. It
takes a team of dedicated organizers
and volunteers to found, install and
stock a fridge so it can one day be operated
and cared for by the community
it gives back to.
“It’s different from a food pantry
model because it’s open all the time
and run by community members.
Everyone and no one has ownership
over it,” said Asha Edey, an organizer
of the newly established Woodside
Community Fridge (on 48th Street
and Broadway) and member of Sunnyside
& Woodside Mutual Aid.
Edey and her team join a tight network
of Astoria, Long Island City and
Sunnyside-based fridges. Although
they may originate from different
organizations and groups, the area
fridges keep in touch through group
messages to communicate about local
food needs and offer general support
to one another.
“Community fridges are so new
and so novel, it’s hard for people to
jump on board,” said Queensbridge
Community Fridge (40th Avenue and
10th Street) organizer Grace Frutos.
“I think if we normalize community
fridges, normalize mutual aid and
make it a habit to always partake in
mutual aid, that will help.”
Frutos founded the Queensbridge
Fridge with her activist group, The
People’s March, last October. She and
her team have helped start fridges
throughout Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan
and The Bronx.
The Queensbridge Fridge sits outside
the largest public housing development
in the borough, which
Frutos said is “overpoliced and underserved.”
The need for accessible food
is high in that area, and the fridge was
welcomed by the community. The
fridge was installed outside a bodega,
but soon faced a slew of problems:
the fridge broke, the bodega owner
started to grow weary of the “crowds”
the fridge attracted, and he demanded
they pay rent. Once, the fridge was
knocked over in an unrelated altercation,
but the community lifted it back
up and reorganized its contents.
“The people really empowered us,”
Frutos recalled. “Knowing that they’re
willing to house a broken, dirty fridge
… they deserve so much more than
that. I think the most important part of
the fridge is that we come in, then the
Photo by Joanna Frank