A new Community Fridge is now officially opened.
The fridge is being set up and run jointly by the Blackbird Cafe, located in the Pavilion on the Park, and Thrive Church UK, who are also based in Eastleigh.
Gavin Scott, one of the church leaders says, “Thrive Church UK is thrilled to be partnering with the Pavilion on the Park and the Blackbird Cafe. The community fridge is a much-needed resource for Eastleigh. Our aim is to reduce food waste whilst providing fresh produce for anyone to access.”
The fridge will be open every day from 10am to 3pm and is in the entrance hall of the Pavilion on the Park, a community building on Kingfisher Road. Food is donated by either local businesses or individuals, who are not going to sell or eat it, and then anyone can collect it from the fridge for a small donation, or for free if they can’t afford to donate.
Steve Everett, Chair of Trustees and acting Executive Director says, “The team at the Pavilion and I are delighted to be working with Thrive Church and Coop Chandlers Ford to support our local community and to help eradicate food waste. I have seen the local community come together and support each other.”
Local volunteer, Wendy, says, “we’ve had some amazing donations from our local Coop stores already, been able to save loads of food from going to waste, and helped families who need food because they can’t afford to buy it at the moment.”
The rules of the fridge are that people take only what they will be able to eat up and leave some food to share with others. They can also accept donations from individuals, for example, if you have too many vegetables left in your fridge, or you get a buy one get one free in the supermarket and then can’t eat the free one. They can’t accept items past their use by date (past best before is fine) or home cooked meals, because of allergies and health and safety.
For more information see the fridge’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eastleighcommunityfridge