At the end of 2024, Vena Priestly, a fourth-generation Brookline resident and real estate agent at Rise Realty, needed to find a home for an extra refrigerator one of her landlords had. Unsure about what to do with the appliance, she posted a notice in the “Buy Nothing Brookline” Facebook group, where people give and receive goods, often secondhand and always free.
Meanwhile, for months, volunteers behind the Brookline Community Fridge, established to combat food insecurity in the town, had been raising money to replace their original fridge, whose defective doors posed a risk of food spoilage. In October 2024, they set up a GoFundMe campaign for $5,000, which would allow them to buy a new refrigerator, continue to stock it, and install a shelving unit with cabinets for pantry goods.
Word of the volunteers’ efforts spread, and a member of the Facebook group reached out to Priestly. Within about 24 hours, Priestly connected with volunteer Zahriyannah Karakashian-Jones, recruited her family to help her move the fridge from the second floor of the building, and transported it to Station Street, where it stands next to the old refrigerator.
Priestly said she was “ecstatic” to be able to donate the fridge to a worthy cause because she relied on similar services when she was a teen parent. She called it a “privilege to be part of” a community that came together to keep the Community Fridge in operation.
“That’s why I stay here, and that’s why I’m raising my kids here,” Priestly said. “Because we really do care for each other, and we want to make sure everybody feels included and try to help people that may not be able to help themselves right now financially.”
Karakashian-Jones, program and grants manager at Brookline Community Foundation, is intimately familiar with food insecurity. She was raised in public housing in Brookline by a single parent whose salary “didn’t go far.” The holidays were especially challenging for Karakashian-Jones’ mom, who had to balance paying for essentials like groceries and rent with the expectations of gift-giving.
The volunteers created the GoFundMe with this in mind, hoping to “remove the burden” of not having “quality food during holidays,” Karakashian-Jones said, and catering to dietary restrictions some grocery stores can’t.
By Dec. 27, 2024, the volunteers had raised 50% of their goal, enabling them to keep the refrigerator they got from Priestly well-stocked and fulfill requests for specialty holiday foods submitted via a Google Form, including stuffing, mashed potatoes, matzo ball soup, halal meats, and gingerbread houses.
Throughout the year, volunteers sporadically fill the fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and individual meals, while the freezer holds chicken, fish, ground beef, and leftover bread from a local bakery. In the pantry, they put canned fruits and vegetables, dry goods like rice and pasta, sauces, soups, and instant meals like boxed mac and cheese and ramen.
These provisions are aimed at curbing hunger in the town, which affected 18 percent of the population in Norfolk County and 1.9 million Massachusetts adults in 2023, according to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
When it comes to food insecurity in Brookline, Arielle Chernin, operations manager at the Brookline Food Pantry, which serves about 700 Brookline households weekly, said “There’s more of it than you think.” Approximately 12.3% of Brookline residents lived below the poverty line in 2019.
“A lot of people are surprised to know how much of a need there is in the community,” Chernin said. “Some people assume that Brookline is very affluent and wealthy, and there are parts of it that are, but there’s also parts of it that are quite the opposite and need more help and attention.”
The Community Fridge has no barriers to its use. Colorful artwork on the old refrigerator proclaims “Take what you need. Leave what you can.”
The Community Fridge was started in 2021 by the owners of Brothers & Sisters Co. cafe, which supplies electricity for the fridge. After establishing the fridge, the staff adopted a hands-off approach, allowing community members to take the lead, said Jamie Siracusa, owner of the café and Jamie’s Ice Cream Co. next door.
“I love that people came together and we’re really passionate about keeping it going,” Siracusa said.
This collaborative spirit is the reason the fridge has persisted, but the volunteer-led approach has its challenges.
Cameras outside Siracusa’s stores, she said, have recorded the same person repeatedly taking food from the fridge and throwing it on the ground, which makes additional work for her staff. She is trying to navigate keeping the Community Fridge afloat “in a way that’s feasible and is going to actually work and not be something that we can’t keep up with.”
Managing the service can also be difficult for the volunteers who must balance taking a “no questions asked” approach with making sure the resources are used equitably. The volunteers also maintain and clean the fridge and handle administrative tasks without pay, which is why community support is crucial, Karakashian-Jones said.
The new fridge is a welcome addition. With doors that shut fully, the volunteers won’t have to monitor it as closely. The donation also means the entirety of the money raised from the GoFundMe campaign — a little over $3,300 as of Jan. 2 — can be used to keep the fridge stocked and purchase hygiene products for the pantry. The group has also purchased a shelving unit.
Community Fridge volunteers have recently partnered with community groups Bowls for Boston and Brookline Muslim Friends, as well as the Pierce School Parent-Teacher Organization, to continue ensuring food security in Brookline, Karakashian-Jones said.
“No matter what anyone’s economic status is or citizenship status…people should be able to access and get their basic needs met,” Karakashian-Jones said. “Food is a basic need. Everybody should be able to have it.”