Many neighborhoods across New York City have implemented community refrigerators during the pandemic and as of August 16 Red Hook has one as well.
Hashtag Brooklyn had a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the fridge. Anaika Forbes, who started at Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn four years ago, has been helping people get food since the beginning.
The ribbon cutting ceremony happened on a rainy day, which likely kept some people away.
Due to the inclement weather, the fridge was painted with Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn’s logo (a hashtag inside of a red heart) the next day on Monday.
Red Hook Art Project partnered with Forbes and Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn to help get the fridge set up at Jam’It Bistro which operates as a restaurant at 367 Columbia Street. Jam’it was opened last year by Dawn Skeete
Tiffiney Davis, who is the managing director of RHAP, helped Forbes find this location to have the community fridge. Davis added that four students from RHAP volunteered to paint the fridge
“Anytime I need a location to host and make sandwiches, I can always ask Tiffiney and she always finds someone in the neighborhood who is willing to let me borrow their space free of charge,” Forbes said. “When I knew I wanted to do a fridge, Red Hook was the only community I knew I wanted to put it in.”
At the time of the ribbon cutting, at about 12:20 on Sunday, the fridge was already stocked with sandwiches, fresh fruit, bread, milk, water, corn, carrots and yoo-hoo.
“Our plan is to keep it stocked and and full and if anyone has the means to also do the same thing our hours are 11 AM to 8 PM,” Forbes said. “It is a community effort. We are all we got, so we have to help each other out, but otherwise Tiffiney and I got this.”
Forbes thanked Skeete from Jam’It Bistro for allowing her electricity from Jam’It to power the refrigerator and she thanked Davis as well and expressed how excited she was that this came to fruition.
Everything is inside the fridge is free for anyone that needs and and people are encouraged to contribute what they can.
There are a few rules and guidelines for what should go in the fridge and how people should treat the area.
“Date and label all of the foods,” Forbes said. “No opened or partially wrapped foods. No prepared foods unless you want to reach out to me and then we can work something out.”
Forbes, who is invested in helping others get food and care, stressed respecting the area and refrigerator.
“Please, above all, keep the fridge nice and neat because we want to make sure the surrounding neighborhood, neighborhood, and block stays clean,” Forbes said. “We want to make sure we keep everything clean.”
Forbes would like the community to contribute fresh fruits and vegetables, water, bread and milk, being mindful of expiration dates.
The community fridge will stay in front of the Jam’It Bistro for as long as the fridge is helpful.
Jam’It Bistro has been involved in helping feed people during the pandemic. Skeete has partnered with World Central Kitchen and generous donors in Red Hook to provide 185 meals daily to the Red Hook community.
Forbes does not want to people do feel ashamed at all about opening the fridge and taking what they need since she wants this to be a resource for people who need some food.
When she first started Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn, whose motto is to end world hunger one lunch bag at a time, they would make sandwiches in a community working space, put love notes in the bag with the sandwich and then distribute them to the community.
They make their sandwiches and put together the lunch bags most of the time in South Slope, which is next to Greenwood Heights/Sunset Park, and then they distribute the meals to needy people in Crown Heights, Bushwick and Bedford Stuyvesant.
“Since I knew this was our four year anniversary in Brooklyn, I figured this is a gift that keeps on giving – having a fridge in a community where people can come in and take as they need at any time,” Forbes said.
Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn’s Instagram account is @hashtaglunchbagbk where you can see updates. Skeete, Forbes, Karen Blondel, Tiffiney Davis and another representative from Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn were all at the opening of the fridge.
