Friendly Fridge BX gets tech upgrade with Fridge Buddy app by Horace Mann student

It just feels great to finally get it started. . . when I want something I go at it at all angles and this was so important to me and I knew it was definitely in reach.”

Chris Fidanza, Manhattan University student

The Friendly Fridge BX is upgrading its technology thanks to the latest invention by Horace Mann School senior, Joshua Borut. Say hi to Fridge Buddy, the Friendly Fridge’s new organizational phone application. 

Over the last few months, the fridge garnered the interest of two local students, Chris Fidanza and Joshua Borut, who pulled together to make change happen for the fridge’s co-founders, Selma Raven and Sara Allen.

While Manhattan University junior, Fidanza, was dedicated to sourcing food from his school for the fridge, high school senior, Joshua Borut, was designing an app for Raven and her team. 

Borut said he’s known Raven almost his whole life after being in her preschool class many years ago. His family regularly donates food to the fridge, and on one particular trip, Borut and Raven discussed the needs of the fridge, and the phone application process began. 

The community fridge, located at Manhattan College Parkway and 242nd Street, distributes fresh produce and meals weekly. Raven said they rescue roughly 68,000 pounds of food a month and disburse it across the neighboring communities for free. 

The Friendly Fridge began in 2020, with Raven and Allen, in their pursuit to tackle food insecurity via food waste and provide nutritious food to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Our specific mission is to redirect food from landfills so that we can put very good healthy food into the hands of people who need a little extra help,” Allen said. 

Borut said he and Raven rifled through a few ideas before settling on creating an organizational system for the Friendly Fridge to keep its data organized with their new app, Fridge Buddy. 

“In order to fundraise for a nonprofit, it's easier if you have data that you can hand out,” Borut said. 

The app allows volunteers to collect information, like  names, if anyone has a disability, food preferences and whether the user has access to a microwave or oven. 

Part of the purpose of collecting the data is also to allow Raven and the other volunteers to ensure equitable distribution of food by providing them the opportunity to reach out to people they have not seen in a while, or to track how frequently community members visit the fridge. 

“There’s also a data page where you can take a glance at all of the data of the users which can hopefully help them figure out what food is most helpful and their target demographic,” Borut said. 

Borut said that his passion for engineering and app development began with his grandfather teaching him about his job as an engineer. Together the two use to bring projects to life with old plumbing and whatever they had laying around. 

When Borut was in the fourth grade his family moved to Japan where he studied technology and coding after school and upon his return to the United States in the seventh grade he began practicing app development. He was also recently given the opportunity to create an app for the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s Pathways to the Past program that hasn’t been released to the public yet. 

Fridge Buddy is live on the app store, but Borut and Raven said the team won’t begin using it until early December. For Borut, app development is about more than just creation, he said it gave him tangible practice on design, but most importantly it gave him the chance to help his community. 

“I’ve been trying to branch out, it helps me improve my programming skills but also just being able to see the tangible change, at least I helped in some way,” Borut said. 

Fidanza found out about the fridge on his commute to school from Connecticut. After driving by the long line at the refrigerator a few times, he decided to stop and see what the commotion was about. After meeting Raven, Fidanza became a fan of her work and decided to contribute as well. 

Fidanza said he immediately emailed the head of dining at the school to inquire about the dining hall’s leftover food being sent to the fridge. After receiving no response, he walked into the dining hall, to speak to the manager in person. Fidanza said he knew the dining halls were wasting food 

“I saw a need and wanted to bridge the gap a little bit,” Fidanza said. 

After two weeks, Fidanza said he approached the chef again, and after an initial sit-down, the dining company offered him toilet paper as a donation rather than food. Fidanza said he refused to take no for an answer and persisted with contacting corporate for Aramark Catering, the institution’s dining vendor. 

Eventually, he was told by corporate that the food donation would be a liability issue and Fidanza was quick to research and learn about the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996, which protects individuals and businesses who donate food to nonprofit organizations and absolves the donor of any liability or fault.

After explaining the legislation to corporate, Fidanza said he still didn’t hear back, but his refusal to accept no for an answer persisted. Instead, he turned to Father Edward Beck, co-director of campus ministry and Manhattan University chaplain, and pitched his idea of donating the dining hall’s leftover food to the fridge. With the help of the chaplain, Fidanza was able to speak directly with the school’s president and secure the beginning, of what he hopes, to be many donations. 

Fidanza walked the first donation to the fridge on Nov. 13. The school agreed to contribute a recurring weekly food donation of sandwiches, sushi and other excess food.

“It just feels great to finally get it started. . . when I want something I go at it from all angles and this was so important to me and I knew it was definitely in reach,” Fidanza said. 

Raven is currently fundraising to meet her goal of moving the fridge into a storefront, where more food can be stored and given out to those in need.