The Friendly Fridge tackles food insecurity in northwest Bronx with fresh produce distribution

Our specific mission is to redirect food from landfills so that we can put very good, healthy food into the hands of people who need a little extra help”

Sara Allen, co-founder, The Friendly Fridge

Data presented by the Northwest Bronx Food Justice Coalition declares one out of four households in the Northwest Bronx are food insecure. 

Food insecurity, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is when an individual lacks access to the safe and nutritious food necessary for growth and development. 

Community services offering meals or pantries are available at locations like the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, the Riverdale Neighborhood House and more. 

One organization supporting the local efforts to combat food insecurity is The Friendly Fridge, located on Manhattan College Parkway and West 242th Street. 

Fridge founders Sara Allen and Selma Raven began the project in 2020 and, within two days, they had purchased a fridge, set it up on a Kingsbridge sidewalk, and started a journey that would change both their lives. 

Their goal with the fridge is tackling not just food insecurity but also nutritional insecurity, which is why what food they hand out matters. 

In partnership with the organization Sharing Excess, The Friendly Fridge pays roughly $400 a week for a truck to transport pallets of fresh leftover produce from the Hunts Point Market to be distributed to the greater Riverdale community.

Allen said the truck brings anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 pounds of fresh produce with each delivery. 

“Even though we have a very small footprint, we are distributing more fresh produce than any pantry in this zipcode,” Raven said. 

According to Allen and Raven, the fridge never distributes cans as part of its emphasis on nutritional security. 

One of Raven’s concerns is, in spite of all of the local partnerships they have, she has found many people unwilling to donate leftover meals because they are nervous about being sued or held liable after donating food.

But a 1996 law protects donors.

The law was signed by then president Bill Clinton in the hopes of encouraging food and grocery donation. The law states donors are protected from liability when they donate to nonprofits and from civil and criminal liability when a produce donated in good faith causes harm.

The only group held accountable under this law is one donating with intentional misconduct or gross negligence, knowing full well their donation could cause harm to the recipient. 

In total, Allen said, the Friendly Fridge feeds roughly 1,800 people every week, with end-of-the-month numbers spiking to 2,400, as bills are due and paychecks come in. 

“People say ‘oh wow you’re so successful’ but it’s actually a shame that there’s still so many people hungry,” Raven said.

In addition to produce, the fridge offers prepared meals collected from local partnerships with places like Marianne’s Pizza, Riverdale Bagels and Riverdale Country School.

Allen and Raven said Riverdale Country School is one of their largest donors, bringing numerous trays of food left over from lunch they then package into individual meals to stock the fridge.

Their goal is redirecting as much as they can. 

On fridge days — Monday, Wednesday and Friday — the fridge is sanitized and people from the community can drop food off and pick food up. 

On distribution days, Tuesdays and Thursdays, people begin lining up as early as 9:30 a.m. for the noon distribution.

Raven said she tries to assure people they don’t have to stand in bad weather, that the fridge will always have enough, but they wait anyway.

Distribution these days brings produce and fresh bread from local bakeries because those have been the requests of the community. 

These two days of the week are when pallets of fresh produce are brought from the Hunts Point Market and, while they never know exactly what they’ll receive, Allen and Raven always know it will be enough, and it always is, so much so they often have leftovers they will offer up to other Bronx-based organizations or churches they partner with. 

“We’re using what funding we have to rescue food that has already been made and already been paid for and we are putting that food in an accessible place,” Allen said. 

The only problem with having leftovers is transportation. Raven said other distributors, on occasion, have to throw food away because no one can come retrieve the leftovers, as there’s very little funding to bring food in let alone carry it out to another location. 

Lilka Adams of Lloyd’s Carrot Cake said, every Thanksgiving, the shop donates cupcakes to the fridge. Adams said the shop was once run by her father, Lloyd Adams, and, after his passing, her mom, Betty Campbell-Adams. Lilka Adams took over before her mother died, and she and her brother run the shop hoping to maintain their parents legacy.

Campbell-Adams originated the shop’s relationship with the fridge, so the younger generation made it their mission to continue the connection. 

“We just look to continue extending that relationship across the community because, without them, there is no Lloyd’s,” Lilka Adams said. 

When it comes to what they distribute, despite never knowing what they will get, Raven and Allen are always excited to see what the day will bring. On some occasions, they receive extra-special deliveries. Just last week, they received yogurt, ground lamb and oxtails, food the fridge had never seen before and one of their highly sought after foods groups — protein. 

“Our specific mission is to redirect food from landfills so that we can put very good healthy food into the hands of people who need a little extra help,” Allen said. 

While The Friendly Fridge is certainly not the only nonprofit in the greater Riverdale area tackling food insecurity, they estimate it is redirecting around 6,500 pounds of food every month, including produce and prepared meals.