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Deanshanger Community Fridge

On Monday 19th April 2021, we were absolutely delighted to open a Community Fridge at Deanshanger Primary School. It was a very exciting day after lots of planning by the school team, headed by Mr Daniel Peel, in conjunction with the Community Fridge network and our food partner – the Co-op in Deanshanger. Mr Nyall Lewis, Co-op store Manager and Mrs Carly Whiles, Member Pioneer, have supported us every step of the way. Very rapidly, our volunteer group grew ready to help with picks up and openings for shifts. We’re always on the lookout for more though – please make contact if you might have an hour spare on a regular basis or even only now and again. The running of this exciting venture is totally dependent on volunteers.

Our Community Fridge lives in our old kiln room. Although it was great to have this facility, the kiln hadn’t been used in many years since we tend to use air-drying clay now! The room was therefore the perfect space to decorate and enhance with the children’s artwork and homemade bunting; it’s location (just near the staff car park) makes it very accessible. The fridge was very kindly donated by Hubbub and school parents/carers and staff provided a start-up stock of store cupboard items. The Co-op are providing the stock for the days that we are open and this is further enhanced by pick-ups from other supermarkets and donations from our community. There is normally a plentiful supply of baked goods and lots of other special items in the fridge. It really is like stepping into a beautiful and bijou store! The only difference is that you don’t have to spend any money and are doing a great thing to reduce food surplus by using it!

The name ‘Community Fridge’ might make you think that you are going to step into a huge fridge, but it is a small room kitted out with shelves and a domestic fridge. Everything in the room is there for everyone in the community to help themselves to. Volunteers are in the room to greet you and ensure that you don’t miss out on any special items and, very importantly, to thank you for being a food hero and help us play an important part in reducing food surplus and waste. As it is a relatively small room though, they do step outside whilst you do your shopping.

 

The Community Fridge currently opens for 4 shifts a week : 

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: 3.30pm — 4.30pm and Fridays: 5.30pm — 6.30pm.  We try hard to keep the fridge open throughout the school holidays but opening hours do sometimes have to change. 

We are thrilled to play a part in reducing food surplus and supporting our local community. The response so far has been incredible!

Please come along and join us either to help yourself to the food items in there or/and to drop off items to share with others. If you’d like to be added to our volunteer list, please contact Rachel Rice head@deanshanger.northants-ecl.gov.uk

 

We look forward to welcoming you very soon - working together we can reduce food surplus and build an even stronger local community.

Mrs Rachel Rice, Head teacher at Deanshanger Primary School