Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
The East Village Neighbors Community Fridge and Pantry, located at the NW corner of 12th Street and First Avenue, was removed from service yesterday.
For the past four years, the fridge and pantry have been stationed outside S'MAC, where owners Sarita and Caesar Ekya, along with East Village Neighbors, a local volunteer group, helped provide food for people in need.
However, as we first reported on Friday, the landlord had been fielding calls and complaints from tenants and neighboring businesses about the fridge and pantry for months. (Complaints range from people blocking the street to fighting among those seeking food.)
Sarita made it clear that her landlord was not to blame, that he was "one of the good guys." However, given the number of complaints, he had no choice but to ask for the fridge's removal.
The damaged fridge, placed on the curb, was being recycled.
For now, donations can go to the Chelsea Fridge on Sixth Avenue and 15th Street or the Loisaida Community Fridge on Ninth Street and Avenue B.
Sarita and Caesar hoped to find a new home for the East Village Neighbors Community Fridge. Sarita told us yesterday, "Things are moving, but there have been no commitments from places as of yet."
Previously on EV Grieve:
9 comments:
This is such a shame. Any word on the other missing community fridge outside of Overthrow Boxing?
The last Instagram post from the Overthrow fridge organizers came on Dec. 25, 2023:
Hi everyone! Many of you may have noticed our Overthrow Community Fridge has been removed and placed out of order. We are in the process of getting a new fridge. We will post updates here as we get close to obtaining a new fridge to continue serving the community.
Upsetting news. I've walked past here many a time as people searched for meals in this refrigerator. Having access to food is essential for all of us. This served our community for years and now it is gone sadly. Sarita is a saint for being so kind and lovely.
Thank you Sarita and Caesar, and all who contributed
It is sad to see any friendly fridge close. Up here in Riverdale, we've had numerous instances of friendly fridge vandalism and organized complaints from better heeled Karen's. We pushed back.
Landlords have no tollerance for complaints like that, particularly with threats of Sanitation fines or DOH problems for nearby food businesses.
I hope chill and cleanliness prevail at all Friendly Fridges and perhaps another will pop up nearby.
I hope all the tenants who complained one day get to experience homelessness and food scarcity for themselves. For a few years, at least
Wonderful idea in theory… but come on this is nyc. Nothing is free - even the free stuff
Former East Village tenant here I wonder if I could start a friendly fridge here in NJ? Would they allow it?
Picking up donations from friendly neighborhood stores and restocking the fridges kept me going through COVID unemployment (and helped pad my frugal food budget at the time). They kept me active and I met tons of lovely people that way.
I worry about East Village folks on fixed incomes. We have an extremely high number of seniors living on social security.
We need more local, community-run projects like these. Once you’ve seen with your own eyes how much good food gets thrown out in NYC daily, you really understand how our system runs on artificial scarcity.
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