Posted on June 23, 2021 at 12:55 pm by Carol Tannenhauser
Community Fridge at West End Collegiate Church.
By Carol Tannenhauser
The catch phrase of “community” or “friendly fridges” is “take what you need, leave what you can.” Literally, refrigerators stocked by donors with fresh food, free for the taking, they began appearing on sidewalks around the city during the pandemic, as another way of distributing food to those who needed it.
Fresh, healthy food for the taking.
In September, 2020, a community fridge appeared in the portico of West End Collegiate Church on West 77th Street between West End Avenue and Broadway. For nine months it helped fill the refrigerators of countless anonymous New Yorkers who were suddenly, or perhaps, perpetually, “food insecure.”
Recently, however, the refrigerator door was closed for good, when “a small, but very vocal contingent of our immediate neighbors…made explicit demands that we ‘cease operations of the fridge and free coffee programs,’’ Rev. William Critzman, senior minister at the West End Church told West Side Rag. “Complaints about marijuana usage were among the concerns our neighbors expressed.”
“Unfortunately, the fridge was not universally liked and we made this decision in order to deescalate neighborhood tensions, reevaluate our ongoing programming, and acknowledge that we are in a different place than we were last September,” Rev. Critzman explained. “The Fridge did good and necessary work, and we are grateful to all who supported it.”
The fridge was filled by donations from the community.
A pop-up community pantry at the Belleclaire Hotel.
“Providing food and hospitality to our neighbors in need has been a core mission of West End Church for many years,” Rev. Critzman said. “The community fridge and pantry served a vital need for nine months during the acute phase of the Pandemic. As we begin moving into the vaccinated phase and as New York begins to move forward, we are aware of the need to continue evolving our feeding programs in order to better serve the needs of all our constituents. Certainly, providing care to the least among us is a tenet of our faith. True too is our responsibility to work with our neighbors, partners, and members to join together in working for the best possible solution.“
At the present time, the West End Community Fridge is seeking a new host. In the interim, the UWS Open Hearts Initiative — a group formed to support residents of The Lucerne — held a “pop-up community pantry” at its free store, on Saturday, June 19th, at the Belleclaire Hotel, on West 77th Street and Broadway. Other food bank options include the West Side Campaign Again Hunger pantry at 263 West 86th Street and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) on 72nd between Broadway and West End.
Follow West End Church on Instagram for updates.
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