This is one of 50 finalists in the Reader’s Digest “50 Nicest Places in America” contest for 2020. A crowd-sourced effort to uncover places in all 50 states where kindness and generosity are reigning supreme amidst a climate of coronavirus and cultural upheaval, you can now vote for your favorite ‘Nicest Place’ by visiting the Reader’s Digest website.
You will not go hungry in the Bronx. New York City’s northernmost borough is home to 1.4 million people—and it’s the most racially diverse place in the country, according to the U.S. Census. But if there’s one thing that brings people together, it’s pizza—and pizza was the unifier for families in Riverdale, who started bringing hundreds of the famous pies to strangers throughout New York’s quarantine.
In early March, Aliza Abrams Konig pre-ordered 30 pizzas for a party set to celebrate the Jewish holiday Purim at her synagogue. They’ve always gotten a good turnout, and Konig expected the same this year. Then COVID-19 hit. New Rochelle, a neighboring town, saw one of the first cases reported in the city, where more than 20,000 people would die of the disease over the next few months. As soon as it became clear what was happening, the whole community quarantined, trying to limit spread. The Purim party was canceled.
But Konig picked up the 30 pizzas from the Cafeccino Bakery anyway, and she and seven volunteers delivered them to quarantined congregants.
“The families, especially the children, appreciated seeing our faces,” Konig told Reader’s Digest.
From that cancelled party, the Pizza Brigade was born. Volunteers kept up the pizza deliveries, at no charge to the families, once a week until their quarantine was over. In total, they fed more than 100 families. And not just pizza. The brigade, in partnership with bakery owner Lukasz Babiuch, started weekly deliveries of challah, the bread many Jews eat every week on the Sabbath.
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With the growing need, the Pizza Brigade expanded operations. One day, they delivered 20 pizzas to healthcare professionals battling COVID-19 in the emergency room at Montefiore Medical Center. Then 25 pizzas to Hatzalah, a local volunteer ambulance corps. The next day, ten pizzas to Weill Cornell Hospital. Every order that came in kept the restaurant in business and his staff employed.
From there, the idea spread. Other Jewish communities started sending pizzas to those around them who needed the morale boost that only New York’s signature food can deliver—including in Stamford, Connecticut, where 40 pizzas were sent to families on the front lines.
In another part of Riverdale, Selma Raven and her partner Sara Allen noticed the same thing: Some of their neighbors needed help. It was the seventh anniversary of the day Raven lost her son Michael, who had been an activist fighting against “healthy food deserts”. Inspiration struck—and it was the perfect way to honor the 21-year-old’s memory.
Following the lead of innovators she’d noticed in Brooklyn, Allen found a refrigerator on Craigslist. Meanwhile, Raven asked nearby store owners whether they could plug it in out front; the plan was to fill it with free, fresh food for anyone who needed it. The Riverdale area has a dense urban feel, with a mix of those living in million-dollar homes and others renting a single room, so all types of people live there. “I kept asking until the fourth guy said, ‘Sure, no problem, I’ll do whatever I can,’” Raven told Reader’s Digest.
The Friendly Fridge
A few days later, she and Allen set up what they called their “Friendly Fridge” in front of The Last Stop, an eclectic restaurant in Riverdale, down the street from their apartment.
The Friendly Fridge would operate under a simple system: Take what you need and leave what you can. Raven and Allen buy food almost every day to supplement donations. A local fruit vendor drops off fruit; deli owners on the block have donated sandwiches. Every day, someone new donates.
“It has grown so much in a month,” said Raven. “People take food and talk to us and the community has come together in ways that I’m just humbled.”
At the end of every day, they sanitize and fill the refrigerator, and they’re finding out why Riverdale has been nominated as one of the 50 Nicest Places in America 2020 finalists.
The Bronx community is highly committed to doing volunteer work, giving to charity and helping those in need—but they are seeing a real uptick in volunteerism and care at this time.
“It’s been incredible to see how my community has rallied together and are helping each other out, running errands, pick ups, drop offs for those who can not risk going out,” said Raven. “I am a member of a few WhatsApp groups dedicated to fulfilling shopping list requests for those in quarantine. The groups never stop, there is always someone offering to help out, it’s really amazing.
Recently, the refrigerator stopped working. Allen wrote about the breakdown on Facebook and within two hours, a stranger had delivered a replacement. When Raven offered to pass along $300 in donations she’d collected, the person refused.
“As someone special in my life once said‚ ‘No one should go hungry,’” says Raven. “And thanks to this amazing neighborhood, we can all help.”
One fridge—OR one pizza—at a time.
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