East Village community fridge running again after vandal attack
BY DEAN MOSES
A symbol of community support in
the East Village was senselessly
damaged over the weekend.
For almost one year the community
refrigerator standing outside the East Village’s
S’MAC Mac and Cheese restaurant
on 197 1st Ave. has served as a small effort
to combat food insecurity amidst growing
hunger concerns resulting from the
COVID-19 pandemic. During its tenure it
has not only aided feeding those in need,
but it has also brought the neighborhood
together in order to keep the fridge and
the adjacent wooden pantry stocked with
goods for anyone to take free of charge.
However, the local humanitarian project
was literally left in tatters Sunday morning
after unknown vandals trashed the device.
The cable powering the icebox was severed,
planks from wooden palette upon which
the fridge sits was pried apart, and the
cupboard holding additional food items
was completely pulverized.
“I came across it in the morning. You
could see how much anger went into the
vandalism. These crooks knew they were
hurting our whole community,” Mickey
Paul, a passerby who discovered scene,
told amNewYork Metro.
S’MAC co-owner Caesar Ekya was
Repairs are being made at the East Village community refrigerator after being
vandalized over the weekend.
immediately called by his employees and
informed of the carnage. Helping ensure
his neighbors have access to food throughout
a time of uncertainty has meant a great
deal to him over the last nine months and
unfortunately this is not the fi rst time the
refrigerator has been vandalized, yet it is
the most devastating.
In the past, some shelves had been
PHOTO COURTESY OF SMAC
broken, but Ekya said this time was
different.
“On Sunday morning the staff called
me, so it must have happened late night on
Saturday. It looked like someone tried to
move the fridge and there was a ten-pound
weight laying there, which looked like they
were using to try and break slates it is tied
to. This seemed like someone had spent
time on it,” Ekya said.
Despite the mess, Ekya was not willing
to let this be the end of a community staple.
In fact, it means so much to the area that
the fridge even has its own fundraiser webpage
from where users can donate cash to
help keep it stocked. It is with this in mind
he went to work and restored it.
“Repairing this we will probably have
to get new cabinets, so a couple hundred
dollars for that but it’s more about the time
it takes to get help to fi x this,” Ekya said,
adding that someone already offered to
donate a new refrigerator if needed.
Volunteers often offer to help stock the
refrigerator or provide additional materials
at a lost cost or free so that the East
Village refrigerator can keep aiding the
community. Ekya estimates that it has
helped thousands during its time and says
that many individuals have often thanked
him for providing this access since it is one
of the few locations, they can receive free
fresh produce.
“Sometimes I hang out and chat with
people and they say, ‘This is one of the only
places that I get greens and vegetables and
things like that.’ So, I know that a lot of
people depend on the fridge,” Ekya said.
Although the cabinets are still in needs
of repair, the refrigerator is back up and
running.
Stuyvesant Sq. District street to be co-named
for composer Harry T. Burleigh
BY DEAN MOSES
A street by another: Peter Stuyvesant
Park district is set to receive
an updated epithet.
East 16 Street between Rutherford Place
and Third Avenue, by Stuyvesant Square
Park, will soon receive a new co-title next
month after rising calls to substitute the
current moniker due to the namesake’s
bleak history.
Following civil rights activist movements
decrying that Peter Stuyvesant was
reportedly a slave owner centuries ago, the
Parish of Calvary-St. George’s and Temple
Emanu-El Calvary-St have announced that
they have successfully sanctioned an update
to alter the street originally named after the
1647 Dutch director general.
While the church says that Peter
Stuyvesant’s name will remain on the
Lower Manhattan street sign, it will soon
be accompanied by prominent African-
American composer and singer Harry T.
Burleigh. Born in Pennsylvania, Burleigh is
noteworthy for carving a renowned musical
career despitethe challenges of segregation
East 16th Street in the Stuyvesant Square District will co-named after
composer Harry T. Burleigh on Sept. 12.
and traveling to New York where he served
as the choral director at St. George’s
Church for 50 years.
The renaming ceremony will take place
on Sept. 12 at 3 p.m. on the corner of
16th Street and 3rd Avenue and has those
involved excited with another step toward
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
inclusivity.
“Harry T. Burleigh broke cultural,
social, and religious barriers with the gift
of music. Co-naming 16th Street after
Burleigh, in the shadow of the statue of
Peter Stuyvesant, reminds us of all the barriers
we’ve broken as a city and how—like
Burleigh, with songs on our lips—we will
continue to face the barriers that still need
to be removed. This is a signifi cant moment
not only for our community but the entire
city,” Rev. Jacob Smith, rector of Calvary-
St. George, told Schneps Media.
Following the ceremony, refreshments
will be served on Rutherford Place in
front of the historic St. George’s Episcopal
Church hosted by the Stuyvesant Park
Neighborhood Association before also
providing a musical presentation celebrating
Burleigh’s life insidethe church itself.
Council Member Carlina Rivera is also
slated to attend the ceremony who told
amNewYork Metro that it will be her honor
to help christen the street with a new name.
“Harry T. Burleigh was many things: a
singer, a composer, a choral director. Above
all, he was a trailblazer, who refused to let
racial prejudice stand in the way of his
passion and talent for music, regardless of
whether society at the time would acknowledge
his name,” said Council Member
Carlina Rivera, adding, “I am humbled to
be joining the Parish of Calvary-St.George’s
and Temple Emanu-El in fi nally giving his
memory its long-deserved honor with the
offi cial renaming of this block of 16th
Street to ‘Harry T. Burleigh Place,” Rivera
said.
Schneps Media August 26, 2021 3