{"id":98354,"date":"2026-01-13T06:25:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98354\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T06:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:25:29","slug":"brooklyn-heights-needs-new-home-for-beloved-community-fridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98354\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Heights needs new home for beloved Community Fridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young volunteers with The Service Collective fill the Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge with meals that they prepare. Photo courtesy of Andrea Kapner, who leads TSC\u2019s \u2018Fill the Fridge\u2019 program.<\/p>\n

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS \u2014 The Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge sits inside its own little green \u201cbarn\u201d on the sidewalk in front of the First Presbyterian Church at 124 Henry St., and is filled by locals with meals, intentional leftovers, canned food and baked goods. Anyone can give, and anyone can take.<\/p>\n

Now, after more than four years in front of the church, the refrigerator needs a new home. Volunteers told the Brooklyn Eagle that the fridge is blocking a now-active driveway, and the church\u2019s founding volunteers have moved out of the neighborhood, necessitating the change of venue.<\/p>\n

Several promising alternate locations have fallen through, however. So with the clock ticking, groups (including The Service Collective<\/a> and \u201cFriends of the Fridge,\u201d with the Brooklyn Heights Association) are hosting a \u201cCommunity Town Hall Discussion\u201d to brainstorm on a new location. The town hall will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Plymouth Church, 75 Hicks St. in Brooklyn Heights.<\/p>\n

\"BrooklynBrooklyn Heights Community Fridge volunteers James and Caroline Koster have been involved with the project from the beginning. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Pandemic over but the need continues<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge was plugged in on Oct. 3, 2021, as Brooklyn was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, with an unemployment<\/a> rate around 8%. It was a time when community refrigerators were popping up across New York, putting a soft edge on a hard city.<\/p>\n

Darryahn Knight, founder of the nonprofit Downtown Friendly, had approached First Presbyterian\u2019s Rev. Adriene Thorne (now the senior minister of Riverside Church in Manhattan) about the possibility of locating a community refrigerator there and providing power. Thorne polled residents on the neighborhood social media site Nextdoor, and the response was overwhelming<\/a>, according to the publication Presbyterians Today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heights resident Caroline Koster had also been mulling the idea of a community refrigerator \u201cafter speaking with a man named Doug\u201d who was handing out expired but still-good food on Court Street, she told the Eagle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I asked how I could help, he said he needed a refrigerator,\u201d Koster said. After she saw Thorne\u2019s post on Nextdoor, it all came together. \u201cThe like minds found each other\u2014we were strangers, but not for long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge, currently in front of the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights, needs a new home. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

On the first call, the group asked if anyone had an architect, Koster said. She looked across the table where her architect husband James Koster was sitting and said, \u2018I think I can find one.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

James designed the shed and led a \u201ccommunity build\u201d project. \u201cI looked to history for\u00a0a design that would be welcomed by neighbors in New York City\u2019s oldest Landmark district,\u201d he told the Eagle. \u201cOur original brownstone-shed design stitches the\u00a0Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge into the fabric of the neighborhood \u2014 a 19th century look for a 21st century problem.\u201d Artist Jonathan Neville painted a mural on the original refrigerator\u2019s (since replaced) door.<\/p>\n

Neighbors have embraced the fridge\u2019s mission and the shed\u2019s architecture, James said. \u201cIt\u2019s sturdy and portable and can be tweaked to meet the look and feel of the next location.\u201d<\/p>\n

The refrigerator has become a focal point for community volunteering and has brought together neighbors of all ages, religions and demographics. Groups have been cooking together, holding events<\/a> like \u201cCrock Pot nights,\u201d and teaching their children what it means to share.<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames and Caroline Koster have been involved with the Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge project from the beginning. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Young volunteers prep more than a thousand meals<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Heights-based Service Collective<\/a> organizes volunteer service projects for kids, teens and families, including prepping meals and delivering them to the Community Fridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Service Collective started our \u2018Fill the Fridge\u2019 program in September of 2022,\u201d TSC Executive Director Amanda Jones told the Eagle. The program is led by nutritionist Andrea Kapner, founder of Tiny Turnips Kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo or three times a month we gather 15-20 kids ages 8-16 \u2014 sometimes younger with their parents \u2014 to talk about the important issues of food insecurity and food waste affecting our community,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe discuss ways in which the community fridge both mitigates food waste and meets the needs of hungry neighbors in a unique way. Then, we get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last four years,\u00a0TSC has hosted more than 60 Fill the Fridge projects, Jones said. Each time, participants prepare more than 30 complete meals, then package, label and stock them in the fridge. \u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0over 1,000 meals served\u00a0and\u00a01,000-plus volunteers\u00a0engaged in the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cEach time we fill the fridge, we are met by hungry neighbors looking for a meal. They are so grateful and delighted we are there. The fridge is full when we leave and is almost always completely empty a few hours later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since anyone in need can take food, exact statistics on users are not available. But volunteers stocking the refrigerator say they have met local seniors, Uber drivers, home health care workers, nannies and babysitters, teachers, the homeless, food-pantry users and college students there, Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the perfect second home for the Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge will emerge when we gather in a town hall and discuss it the old-fashioned way,\u201d Caroline Koster said. \u201cThe neighborhood has embraced this beloved resource and a fridge will grow again in Brooklyn\u2014maybe on a different block, maybe a different hue, but with all the same community connection we\u2019ve seen since day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

(To learn more about the fridge and help find a new site, RSVP online here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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