It Takes A Village: Free Food Fridge Serves Community

In 2021, Mariabella Rivera-Todaro created the New Paltz Free Food Fridge, located at 25 Plattekill Ave in front of the Village Hall. Three years later, the fridge is what Rivera-Todaro conceived it to be: a resource run by and for the community. But with the 23-year-old at the forefront of managing the fridge, they need help running it. 

Rivera-Todaro moved from Brooklyn to New Paltz 10 years ago and received their associate degree in fashion design from SUNY Ulster. After they spent the summer of 2020 protesting the murder of George Floyd in New York City, they returned to New Paltz and started the community organization Millions of Butterflies.

Born from Rivera-Todaro selling brownies and lemonade outside the Rock and Snow store, Millions of Butterflies has blossomed from humble bake sales and fundraising events to its crown achievement: the New Paltz Free Food project. Rivera-Todaro leads the organization with the help of volunteers. 

In April 2021, the then 20-year-old wanted to do something more permanent for the community than sell cookies and brownies on Main Street’s sidewalk. As the pandemic hit its one-year mark and the world inched its way back to business as usual, Rivera-Todaro knew they had to act. They had the idea of a free food fridge — a resource where anybody who needs it could access food in a public space — and wanted to make it a reality. “We’re going to lose this momentum, and the money that we can make,” Rivera-Todaro said. “If we really want to help this town, we need to make a resource that will be here much longer than any of us are.” 

Rivera-Todaro looked to existing organizations for help on how to get started, from the community fridges in Kingston to New Paltz Food Not Bombs and the now disbanded student group New Paltz Socialists. “I had the fire of my actual friends and community people behind me wanting this to happen,” they said. 

The Millions of Butterflies organizer spent spring into fall canvassing in support of the fridge and building relationships with the village’s Deputy Mayor Alexandria Wojcik and Mayor Tim Rogers. “When I said we needed a spot, they gave us that one right in front of the Village Hall,” they said. “I think there’s also in New Paltz, a unique understanding, especially with Alexandria Wojcik on the board to stand up for the community and to have sh*t like this.”

The original plan for the fridge intended for it to be located behind Snug Harbor Bar and Grill, but it  fell through. Rivera-Todaro said this happened for the better: since the fridge is located outside Village Hall, the Village supplies the electricity to power it. “We don’t pay anything to be here,” they said. Nor did they pay anything for the shed the fridge is held in. 

In November 2021, Maya Gold Foundation President Mathew Swerdloff began building the shed for free. One side of the shed holds the fridge, and another side contains a cupboard for canned and dried goods. By Christmas 2021, the fridge was ready to go. “It was a really large community effort,” Rivera-Todaro said. They even got the fridge insured and spray-painted art on the shed.

Volunteers sign up for fridge cleaning shifts and communicate when the fridge is stocked or running low on the social app Discord. While Rivera-Todaro said “when it comes to everyday care and maintenance [of the fridge], the whole town pitches in,” keeping the fridge running smoothly is always on their mind. “You have to be constantly thinking about what you could possibly need next to make this resource even better for the community than what it just is like — how to keep it stocked, how to keep it clean,” they said. 

Rivera-Todaro said, “It could fall apart and become dilapidated and abandoned and a completely and utterly terrible community resource. Every day, we have to think about and figure out how that doesn’t happen.”

Daniel Blake became the fridge’s social media manager this summer and is the only other person who helps run the fridge with Rivera-Todaro. Each Thursday, they clean and organize the fridge, post pictures of it on Instagram and monitor the account’s direct messages. They also run the Discord by coordinating with volunteers, answering questions and keeping track of who checks on the fridge. 

  “Back when we first had the fridge created, I was going through a difficult time financially. I was like, ‘Well, this is a great resource. I am even using it,’” Blake said.  “So, of course, if I’m able to do [social media] on the side, I have the time and helping the community feels really good to do.”

 As social media manager, Blake helps to “lighten the weight for [Rivera-Todaro]” but stressed “we need all of the help we can get.” 

“It is majority Bella (Rivera-Todaro) but then also me doing it. We have our occasional volunteers, but they themselves are mostly students,” he said. “We’d love to have more solid members helping us out on a regular basis. That’s really hard for us to find.” 

According to Rivera-Todaro, most food besides canned goods do not stay in the fridge longer than two to three days. “In that same vein, it doesn’t stay empty for very long,” they said.

The fridge has more than food. Inside the shed, there are COVID-19 and fentanyl tests, Narcan, hygiene products and a microwave. SUNY New Paltz alum Marie-Therese Ghunney has utilized the fridge and donates to it when they have extra canned goods. When they had COVID-19 with their partner, they were out of work with no money while rent was due soon. “There was absolutely nothing,” Ghunney said. “I went to the fridge to get Covid tests from there because I knew it was there … when we didn’t have anything, I would go to the fridge to see if there were anything that we can have.”

“There was one day where the both of us wanted to go on a date, and realized we don’t have any money to eat anything or do anything. We decided to have a free museum date with an outdoor picnic,” they said. “I went to the fridge to maybe find something for the two of us, and Krishna Kitchen donated at least four or five takeout boxes of food. We love Krishna Kitchen, so it was perfect,” they said. 

Ghunney is currently making a documentary about the free food fridge to challenge the taboo of using resources like it. “Food and not having enough money to get food is a sensitive topic. But it really shouldn’t be. It should be talked about — not having enough food and reaching out for help.” 

As the fridge tries to address the systemic issue of food insecurity, not everything with the resource has been smooth sailing. In June, a person tossed the food inside the fridge across the parking lot, smashed trays and vandalized the chalkboard inside the fridge.

“Some of the people that have trauma and have problems that affect them are people who need free sh*t and need these resources,” Rivera-Todaro said. “People love to judge as to what somebody who needs looks like, what the perfect person who needs looks like and how much food one person thinks they need.”

Outside of their work with the free food fridge, Rivera-Todaro plans to continue their work with Millions of Butterflies with the mission of “connecting with artists and getting to know our community.”

As Rivera-Todaro looks towards the future of the fridge and Millions of Butterflies, they are working on getting grants to be able to pay people for their involvement in the fridge and secure its longevity. “A big part of that is making sure that it’s not two people running this thing,” they said. 

“I’m young,” Rivera-Todaro said. “I didn’t go to school for organizing and all of what I’ve learned has been through doing it trial and error, trusting my guts, listening to the people around me and doing research as things come up.”