‘Lettuce Run’ sees race to support Friendly Fridge

The inaugural “Lettuce Run” at Van Cortlandt Park saw over a hundred community members participate last Saturday. The event hosted by the Van Cortlandt Track Club was to bring attention and raise money for the Friendly Fridge Foundation, a community fridge that has been redirecting food to those in need since the pandemic.

The race began at the tortoise and the hare statue and fittingly had the options to either run 5k and or walk one mile. Runners did one loop of the flats, then went into the cow path, did a loop of Freshman Hill and finally finished. There was also a half a mile race just for children. Entry fees for adults were $40 while for children they were $10. All proceeds are going to race expenses and  the Friendly Fridge.

The event was sponsored by Rap4Bronx, the NorthStar Group, Horace Mann School, Riverdale Country School, Kingsbridge Social Club, Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, City Coach and Sysco. Lloyd’s Carrot Cake donated carrot cakes for prizes. The Tortoise & Hare also offered a ten percent discount to any racer.

“This is all for the Friendly Fridge to raise money so they can open a physical location, because there is such a great need in the community and they’ve made so many amazing partnerships with restaurants and businesses to donate food,” said Mandi Susman, race director and former president of the track club. “They need a bigger space to be able to provide food to people who need it. And so we’re raising money to cover their first year’s rent for their store.”

The Friendly Fridge is situated on 4670 Manhattan College Parkway, right alongside Van Cortlandt Park. Volunteers at the fridge redirect about over 55,000 pounds of food every month and have about over 1,200 to 2,500 visits weekly. The fridge was founded by Selma Raven and Sara Allen in 2020.

The idea of a race was sprung at a meeting from the track club, which several volunteers at the fridge are members of. The name came from the fact that a single head of lettuce can take up to 25 years to decompose in a landfill, producing harmful methane gas.

“I think for both of us the goal of the Lettuce Run is to raise funds to help support transportation, storage, all of that,” said Allen. “But more importantly they’re calling to really raise awareness because people want to participate in a way that feels good. But also knowing that their efforts are going toward a larger community project that really serves everyone.”

Larry Levine, a volunteer on the board of directors of the fridge was the first to register for the race. In 2023, Levine redirected about 90,000 pounds of food across several fridges and shelters. He constantly redirects bread from Orwashers and said it was important to keep the fridge as a viable entity because the money to support it goes by very quickly.

“I think with the price of food and clientele are mostly, I would say, middle class and below, there’s needs to supplement their income,” Levine said. “Everything is going up, up, up. It’s also if we didn’t pick up a lot of this food it would be thrown out. The bread is garbage for Orwashers from their standpoint.”

Marianne Pita, a volunteer at the fridge since the pandemic, also participated in the race due to the importance of the fridge in the community.

“There’s a lot of needs, food needs in this neighborhood that are invisible to most people with money who live here,” Pita said. “They sort of think everybody’s middle class, everybody’s doing fine. As in every neighborhood in New York, we have recently arrived immigrants, we have homeless people, we have people who are mentally ill. We have people who are working and can’t quite cover their bills. And there are times that everybody needs. The fridge provides.”

Her sentiment was shared by Gary Spalter, a member of the Van Cortlandt Track Club since 1983 and friend of Raven and Allen.

“What they do is mutual support,” Spalter said. “In other words, people supporting people rather than governments or anyone else. It’s people supporting people and sharing what they have. And it’s a beautiful thing…. It’s an incredible amount of work to get done with no money and no hierarchy. It’s basically all volunteers working together and that’s why I support it.”

The lead runner of the 5K and member of the track club Louis Norred described the course as slightly faster than the standard course they usually do. He said it was nice to see what he could really do and focus on speed.

“It was for a good cause, for the Friendly Fridge,” Norred said. “I know they’re always (feeding) the hungry. It was a nice neighborhood run, with a lot of positive people.”

The winner’s message? Donate to the Friendly Fridge.

Nearly $10,000 out of a $50,000 goal has been raised. Those interested in donating to the Friendly Fridge can go to tinyurl.com/LettuceRunBx.