Photo via astoriafoodpantry.com
BY EMIL MOHAMED
ASTORIA — Where can you go to get warm bread, a crash course in tarot, abolitionist literature and good-old-fashioned company — all for free, powered by your neighbors?
At the Astoria Food Pantry, of course! An unassuming space on Steinway Street and 28th Ave with a community fridge out front, the Astoria Food Pantry is abuzz on its busiest days, with neighbors lining up outside for bread, food, and clothes.
The volunteer-run space operates according to the principles of mutual aid, which doesn’t sharply distinguish between volunteers and patrons, as in traditional charity structures. Those receiving help can also give help, and vice versa — and everyone is encouraged to come to community meetings and have a say in how the space is run.
“Everyone gives, everyone takes,” says Leo, a frequent volunteer.
Most if not all goods AFP distributes are donated or crowdfunded, and everything is distributed for free. “Those who do mutual aid come together with the basic understanding that our political and economic systems have left people behind… We help to provide basic necessities, while simultaneously arguing that we shouldn’t have to exist, and organizing for a future in which our society provides these things to everyone,” reads AFP’s website (astoriafoodpantry.com).
On Monday, canned goods, instant meals, and other non-perishables fill the shelves of AFP’s pantry–canned vegetables pack one bin, broth another. The supply towers as high as its walls, and what can’t be held by the shelves fills plastic bins and large cardboard boxes. Volunteers pack a bit of everything into reusable grocery bags. Despite (or because of) its largely crowd-sourced funding model, the pantry isn’t scarce on resources.
Volunteers fetch black beans, chickpeas, and other supplies for their neighbors. Diapers, Leo says, are especially in-demand. Arrive on a Monday night and you’ll find the Rolling Library — a community library where neighbors can check out or drop off Young Adult, middle grade, and abolitionist books. Also on the Monday night schedule: free English classes.
On Tuesday afternoon, throngs of volunteers slide baguettes into bag-sleeves and tie up loaves in plastic produce bags–gloved and masked to protect the collective health. This is AFP’s bread-packing “power hour”, as Leo calls it. Neighbors take or pass on goods, the warm smell of grain and wheat wafting on the air.
“We always say a bread shift is not done unless you take your bread too,” Leo says.
Wednesday morning is among the pantry’s busiest hours, during which the space is converted into a free clothing shop called the Free Store. Volunteers unpack and hang laundry-bagfuls of clothing donations, while others sort them by size and age. Meanwhile, neighbors filter in and out in a neverending flux, exchanging hellos, requests, and thanks in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
Thursdays and Fridays are quieter, though the space remains available to other local groups, like the Astoria Tenants’ Union, which hosts office hours there. The Astoria Food Pantry shares resources with other mutual aid groups from as far away Woodside, Jamaica, Queensbridge, and even Washington Square Park.
Saturday marks “another big grocery day,” Leo says, akin to AFP’s Monday operations. On Sundays, the group hosts open mic show-and-tells, and other laid-back community-building activities. There are herbalist workshops and tarot learning events, as well as know-your-rights trainings. You’d be hard-pressed to think of a local initiative you couldn’t find somewhere here.
For exact times, how to give or get help, how to donate, community agreements, or a brief history of the initiative, visit AFP’s website. They also promote events and immediate needs on their Instagram (@astoriafoodpantry).
