Read about the new partnership between Services for the Underserved and Sharing Excess as they combat food insecurity in the Bronx, with groups such as the Friendly Fridge Foundation, run by Selma Raven and Sara Allen. They started the program in 2020 and told the Bronx Times that they are both heartened and dismayed to be busier now than ever before. Food waste is a nationwide problem — and ironically, so is food insecurity. According to Sharing Excess, an estimated 900 million meals are wasted each year, and yet 34 million people do not regularly have enough to eat.

Published by Bronx Times

Funkmaster Flex greets Mount Hope residents Lakisha Leonti, 45, and Persephone Leonti, 16, at the Funk Flex Feeds the Block event at PS 78X/Anne Hutchinson School on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023.

A Bronx elementary school held a ribbon-cutting on Thursday for the grand opening of a brand-new community fridge.

In cities across the U.S., hundreds of refrigerators stocked with free food are reducing waste — and methane emissions.

In one of the most food insecure parts of the country, an innovative program is helping to fill a glaring need. That’s what administrators, teachers, and students alike said about the supplemental food system at Mott Hall Bronx High School.

Famous Bronx DJ Funk Flex teamed up with GrubHub, Grassroots Grocery and Sharing Excess to hand out thousands of pounds of fresh food to the community.

Tomorrow, as hip hop commemorates its 50th anniversary, the Bronx is preparing for a groundbreaking event. DJ Funk Flex, an iconic figure in the hip hop world and celebrated son of the Bronx, is uniting with two nonprofit innovators, Grassroots Grocery and Sharing Excess. Together, supported by Grubhub, they will launch a massive food distribution at P.S. 078X – The Anne Hutchinson School.

FeedNC’s recent Gather at the Table event raised $308,000. Supplying more neighbors in need with fresh and nutritious meal options to feed themselves and their families through Grassroots Grocery.

Grassroots Grocery is a nonprofit organization that works with community leaders and volunteers to rescue and distribute nutritious food to community members in the Bronx and Manhattan. Their philosophy is rooted in the idea of neighbors helping neighbors and they aim to cultivate a community committed to feeding each other.

NEW YORK - A free grocery store has opened outside an Upper East Side NYCHA development. The community around the complex contributed to Grassroots Grocery's project to address food insecurity.

The stock piled high outside Holmes Towers at East 92nd Street and 1st Avenue Thursday, as a team of volunteers carried caseloads of food to fill the new pair of free fridges. A third of NYCHA residents struggles to feed their family.

Food insecurity in the city seems to be growing, but two local non-profits are finding a new way to help neighbors on the Upper East Side, opening a community fridge that could be a saving grace for New Yorkers in need.

Alana Katz is one of several volunteers who offered to fill the fridge, bringing 200 turkey sandwiches made by volunteers from the Central Synagogue.

A couple weeks ago, we told you about a pair of new community fridges that opened outside a NYCHA development on the Upper East Side.

Among those helping to keep the fridges stocked there and across the city is an organization called Grassroots Grocery.

Founder Dan Zauderer joined CBS2 in the studio Friday to talk about their efforts.

Two years after community fridges began popping up around the city as a form of pandemic-era mutual aid, the Upper East Side is finally getting its first one.

Dan Zauderer, is the founder of Grassroots Grocery, an anti-hunger non-profit. He developed a Community Refrigerator project in the Bronx, which served hundreds of people per year. He is working on bringing the project to Mamaroneck.

Kelly meets Dan and Christina, founder and volunteer for Grassroots Grocery, a non-profit on a mission to distribute fresh produce to those in need throughout the city.

Despite logistical hurdles and pushback from city officials, organizers are making it their mission to protect community fridges, which have transformed into a combination of social hubs and distribution centers aimed at making sure everyone has access to food.

Students in Calhoun’s fifth grade leadership class worked with the Upper School’s community service class and Students in Action Club to complete a painting projects for Mott Haven Fridge.

Mott Haven Fridge was born of necessity during the pandemic and needs more volunteers to serve New Yorkers in need.

Democratizing access to food for families in need.

About a year after two Bronx teachers debuted the first free community fridge in Mott Haven, local residents came together over the weekend to celebrate its success with a colorful sidewalk brunch.

It was a party in Mott Haven on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021, as dozens enjoyed the festivities put on by the organizers behind the Mott Haven Fridge to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the community fridge.

Volunteers tell News 12 they sprang into action and brought a new fridge the same day - which let people donate food once again.

Community Fridges go by the motto “take what you need, give what you can” but so much more goes into keeping one running than that simple line.

"[It] is literally open 24/7. It's chained to the street… Anybody can take produce or food inside the refrigerator, and anybody can also leave and donate,” co-creator Daniel Zauderer says.

Donate, become a volunteer driver, or even help paint them—contributing comes in many forms.

La nevera fue instalada por un profesor del área.

Aujourd’hui, ce sont de simples citoyens volontaires qui s'organisent pour faire face à cette crise alimentaire.

Community Fridge Arrives in Mott Haven

A sixth-grade humanities teacher teams up with a colleague to help Bronx residents

Some 30 to 40 people gathered at the corner of 141st and Ann St. outside Chicky’s Mini Market on Oct. 18, to celebrate a new addition to the neighborhood—the Mott Haven community fridge.