Friday, November 6, 2020

The East Village Community Fridge can use some fresh-food donations

The East Village Community Fridge, up and running these past few weeks outside S’MAC on 12th Street and First Avenue, is in need of donations.

Available 24/7, the fridge — and the adjacent pantry — provides food for anyone in need of a meal.

The volunteer group East Village Neighbors posted this on Instagram yesterday:
Our pantry is full but we had very little food for the fridge today. Question for other community fridges — how do you keep fresh food in the fridge 24/7? Are there any distributors or vendors we could get a steady supply of donations from? The need is SO great in the East Village that our food goes in an hour or two.

If anyone would like to donate so we can buy more food you can at bit.ly/EVNFunds
This service is a group effort that began when S’MAC owners Sarita and Caesar Ekya saw a post in East Village Neighbors Facebook group about setting up a fresh-foods community fridge. 

East Village Neighbors is also in need of reliable volunteers to help manage, stock and clean the fridge, and purveyors, supermarkets, and local restaurants that may be able to help with weekly food and goods drop-offs. If you can help, please contact the group via email, here: EastVillageNeighbors@gmail.com

Previously on EV Grieve:

Photos by Stacie Joy

9 comments:

lasirenanyc said...

Curious if one takes food and it is full, can it be left at pantry ?

Emily said...

Trying to decipher the question above and can't.

Lola Sáenz said...

I just went to deliver some fresh food and the good news is that the refrigerator is full!
Thank you EV Grieve you are the Best, you really care for the East Village and Thanks for posting again. It looks like you have alot of wonderful readers that went to donate food! Thankyou Sarita, Caesar, Diane Hatz and Stacie Joy.
Sarita's Mac and Cheese is so busy right now. Thanks everyone every little bit counts :)

Caesar said...

Hi - if you are bringing refrigerated food and the fridge is full then let the staff know and we could potentially hold it inside until their is space in the fridge. I am worried if you leave refrigerated stuff in the pantry it might go bad and someone gets sick.

However, so far nobody has had any trouble finding space in the fridge. Food goes fast and there is always room in there.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Caesar

jr said...

what items are needed most in the fridge and how do i arrange a drop-off?

Caesar said...

Fresh vegetables, fruits, eggs, meats, etc seem to be most in demand. Pantry stuff like rice, pasta, beans, flour is also moving. You can just bring stuff to the fridge and put it in yourself.

Thanks in advance!
Caesar

Unknown said...

Are you planning anything special for Thanksgiving dinner? A local church is trying to figure out how to feed families from the church and in the community during this holiday?

DMH said...

Hi to commenter from 11/19 - we are going to have holiday-type food in the fridge on Weds and Thursday. We're plating a few full meals in one container per meal and are also leaving various dishes that will be packaged separately - turkey, green beens, cornbread and a few other items will be labeled and left in the fridge for anyone in need, along with frozen vegetables, cranberries, stuffing mix. Has the church figured out what they're doing? I want to leave a flier on the fridge of all the places offering food on Thursday. You'll hear from me (Diane) much quicker if you email me at eastvillageneighbors (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks so much!

A said...

Thanks for posting about this. There's a real need and the donations I dropped off went immediately.