Community Highlight: Grassroots Grocery

As a middle school teacher at the Bronx’s American Dream School, Dan Zauderer couldn’t entirely focus his attention on teaching because it was occupied by a larger issue facing his students. Food insecurity affects ¼ children in New York City, a problem Dan knew he needed to address. “It was about serving the community the way I could the best. And for a time, that was being a teacher, and for a time that was doing both, and for a time, it was this project that I knew had potential, but needed dedication and energy to make it work.” The project was what soon became Grassroots Grocery. In September of 2020, Dan started the Mott Haven Fridge Network, which eventually grew into his organization, reaching over a thousand families every week. 

Source: Grassroots Grocery

Grassroots Grocery is a dynamic community effort, “advancing food justice by cultivating a community of neighbors helping neighbors.” What started with Mott Haven Fridge has since expanded to a network of creative teenagers filling even more fridges and throwing produce parties every Saturday. They’ve since collected over 850,000 pounds of fresh produce and have recruited over 6,000 volunteers for their mission. I had the opportunity to talk to founder Dan Zauderer about his story of leaving teaching and starting Grassroot Grocery, “It came to a point where I was trying to teach, and at the same times I was teaching, I was sending text messages left and right from my computer screen trying to coordinate people to deliver food to different community fridges, and it became impossible to do both those things really well.” Ever since, Dan has redirected his efforts and has been working full-time, helping combat food insecurity in New York City. 

Source: THE CITY Newspaper

Every Saturday, over 10,000 pounds of food is packed and sent to one of Grassroots Grocery’s community partners. It’s not called a produce party for no reason. Families come together from all over the city, playing music and packing food that will soon make a difference in someone's life. Dan explains, “We sort and pack the produce, and then we load it up into about 30 to 40 different vehicles.” Families come together to start their weekend in a positive way by giving back to their community. “We are reaching almost 1,500 families with fresh produce every Saturday morning, and our real effort now is to try to scale that work.” Expanding at this scale is about community involvement, and with more volunteers, Grassroots Grocery would be able to reach more hungry New Yorkers. 

Source: Grassroots Grocery

What’s so special about Grassroots Grocery is the amount of student initiative and action. Students from schools across New York City bring food from their school cafeterias and drop them off at community fridges. These fridges are placed on the street, filled with fresh produce given “by the community for the community.” Anyone can give back in many ways: donating, volunteering, or attending a product party. Zauderer encourages participation and says, “You don’t need to be a social scientist or run a nonprofit; you just need to come to a produce party on a Saturday.” 

For more information, visit https://www.grassrootsgrocery.org/.