There's a lot of emphasis on food this time of year, especially in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. But the need is there every day of the year.

A recent Hunger Free America report found one in seven New Yorkers experience food insecurity. Those numbers are even worse in the Bronx where one in four residents lack reliable access to food.

"Giving out turkeys at Thanksgiving is important but people need to eat 52 weeks during the year and that's why we need solutions," said Joel Berg, the CEO of Hunger Free America.

Our New Yorker of the Week is trying to build up a grassroots solution, empowering people in the South Bronx to help their own neighbors.  

The frigid temperatures don’t keep Daniel Zauderer from stocking the community fridge he launched in Mott Haven.

"It's more than just providing people with food. It's providing people with a sense of community. It's providing people with a space to be proud of," he said.

Zauderer has long been a giver. As a middle school humanities teacher, he raised money for his South Bronx students.

"Books for the classroom or whatever,” Zauderer said. “But this year there was no classroom because of the pandemic."

His students and their families were struggling.

"Many of them were frontline workers, delivery workers, undocumented immigrants, living in close quarters, got COVID,” Zauderer said. “The pandemic just devastated them and their lives."

So Zauderer and his co-workers raised money for food, internet hotspots and toys for kids.

And then he learned about community fridges, a place where people could leave food for their neighbors to take as they need.

"In a place that was struggling so much for access to fresh and healthy food, I knew that a community refrigerator would be ideal."

Soon after, Zauderer set up two of them in Mott Haven. Neighbors keep a watchful eye on the fridges. And restaurants regularly share fresh meals.

Meanwhile, Zauderer contributes to refrigerators around the city year round.

"Hunger is, you know, it's perpetual,” he said as he drove to another community fridge in East Harlem. “So you know people's support shouldn't be limited to November, December."

Zauderer is currently looking to bring in even more food and more volunteers to distribute it around the city.

"Make sure that people in need get the food that they need to feed their families as close to them as possible," he said.

For inspiring the people of his community to feed their struggling neighbors, Daniel Zauderer is our New Yorker of the Week.

To contribute to the Mott Haven Fridge Network, head to motthavenfridge.com.