Support Community Fridges!

**This fundraiser is no longer accepting donations and is very outdated! We've since transitioned from Mott Haven Fridge to Grassroots Grocery. To donate to Grassroots Grocery, please visit this link: http://www.grassrootsgrocery.org/donate. If you are interested in seeing financial information, please see this copy of our 990 tax return for 2021: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zF7VSvM55oHAdiX4-nXcPNoWM1FKY76x/view?usp=share_link

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**Can't donate but want to volunteer? Fill out this form and we'll get back to you ASAP!**

What is Mott Haven Fridge?

Founded by two 6th-grade teachers in response to witnessing widespread food insecurity among their students' families, Mott Haven Fridge is an outdoor, freestanding refrigerator providing community members in the poorest congressional district in the United States with 24/7, no-questions-asked access to fresh produce and other basic essentials. The fridge is stocked by donations from individuals, local businesses and community partners and cleaned and maintained by a grassroots network of community volunteers. With accolades from News12 , ABC7 , Pix 11 , WNYC , Fuji News Network and CNN , the Mott Haven Fridge is a lifeline and beacon of hope for a community plagued by food insecurity.  

What needs does Mott Haven Fridge serve? 

A 24/7, no-questions-asked source of food, Mott Haven reaches individuals and families that other institutionalized sources of food (pantries, food banks, etc.) fail to reach. It also fills in the gap produced by the closure or limiting of hours of pantries in the Bronx due to the pandemic. Finally, Mott Haven Fridge acts as a point of access to fridge users for more sustainable sources of food and food education. 

What is the community impact of Mott Haven Fridge? 

While the autonomous and anonymous nature of our work complicates the collection of "families-served" data, it is no exaggeration to say that Mott Haven Fridge provides thousands of pounds of food to hundreds of families on a weekly basis.  

Even more exciting, while the Mott Haven Fridges began as two humble refrigerators on the street, we have since been supporting the logistics costs associated with large-scale food distributions to community refrigerators throughout Uptown Manhattan & The Bronx. Every Saturday in March, we plan to provide over twelve THOUSAND pounds of food to families in need, and we are always seeking more sources of donated food to be able to further maximize our impact.  

Where will your donation go? 

While the vast majority of our work is powered by volunteers, running two community fridges and providing logistics support to dozens more is not cheap! Among the costs associated with maintaining our two fridges and supporting large-scale food distribution are:

Fridge-Level Costs (2 Fridges in Mott Haven, South Bronx) 

-regular upkeep and maintenance

-monthly electricity bill at Site #1 

-fridge & pantry winterization / beautification 

-volunteer driver gas & toll reimbursement 

-third-party transport (e.g.. roadie.com, taskrabbit drivers, independent contractor drivers) 

Logistics Costs (Supporting Large-Scale Food Distribution & Coordination throughout Uptown Manhattan & The Bronx) 

- trucking costs 

- trucking equipment 

- low-code tech platform connecting food donor partners, volunteer driver volunteers, and community fridges throughout Uptown Manhattan & The Bronx 

 

Other Costs

-Signage 

-Printed materials 

-Fundraising promotion