Feeding the Community
The Community Fridge at The Village on St Mary’s Road aims to tackle food waste as well as helping those in need. Beth Lambert explains how the fridge works, who it is for, and how you can help!
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In a nutshell, what is the community fridge?
The fridge is a place for in-date, unused food that might otherwise go to waste, for people to take for free. Anyone can come and use the fridge. It’s not just for those who are in food poverty, it’s all about reducing food waste. We don’t care who you are or what your income is, you are most welcome to come and take anything that’s in the fridge because we don’t want that food to go to waste. Our main goal is to channel as much food waste through the fridge as we possibly can. We know that there’s lots of pre-farm gate food waste, lots of food production waste and a lot of waste in people’s households, so we want the fridge to be used as widely as possible by as many people as possible. When the fridge is full, the food is taken within hours, so we know that people are using it. Although the fridge isn’t intended to specifically target people who are in food poverty, it does reduce the stigma, because anyone can use it. We know that we are reaching people who genuinely need it, but overall it is for everyone and anyone. What are your goals for the fridge? I would love us to reach a tonne of food redistributed through the fridge in a month. We got close last summer when we were part of the ‘grow to give’ scheme, and at the moment we move around 500 to 600 kilos of food a month, which is absolutely brilliant and we’re really chuffed with that. Where does the food come from? We get food from various sources. We get people bringing food from their homes because they don’t want it to go to waste, although we can’t accept home-cooked food or things that have been opened or are out of date. Anything that is sitting in your fridge that is sealed and in good condition. For example, if you have a relative who comes to stay who drinks soy milk, but by the time they leave still have an unopened carton you know you won’t use, you can bring that down to the community fridge. We have a donor who works on an airline and brings us the fruit that is provided for the crew and isn’t eaten. She carries five to six kilos of food through security at the airport and brings it to the fridge – we’re so grateful for that! We also get food from the supermarkets at the end of the day. It’s usually food that they have baked that day and have not sold, so it’s perfectly good and well within its date. We get a lot of cakes and pastries! How can readers help? There are lots of ways for people to help the community fridge and the village as a whole. Of course, you can donate food, but you can also help us by donating money if you want or have the means to. That helps us with the running costs because we have to pay rent and our staff! You can help by using the fridge and spreading the word about what we do, and if people really want to get involved, then we are always looking for volunteers! This could be someone who shows up once a week at 8pm and helps us with the food collections, or it could be someone who’s prepared to find businesses who are willing to donate food that might otherwise be going to waste. We have a community garden that is volunteer-run, too. It’s a great opportunity to socialise and it’s a really lovely place to be. We are going to be continuing with the successful ‘grow to give’ scheme again this year, so if you have an allotment and you are planning your crops, please consider putting a few extra things in which can then be donated to the fridge at harvest time – we really appreciate that! The Village is open Tuesday- Saturday 9am-4pm, with late-night shopping until 8pm on Thursdays.
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Issue 20
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