In response to the Cost of Living crisis, and also to help reduce food waste, Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council is hosting a Community Fridge.  

What is a Community Fridge?

Hubbub came up with the idea to tackle food waste and to help those in need to access food. Our Community Fridge is registered with the Hubbub network, and you can read more about the idea behind Community Fridges on their website at Community Fridge Network (hubbub.org.uk)

One of our councillors, Katrina Alexander, works with Fareshare and had an idea to set up a fridge for local residents to tackle food waste and poverty. Fuelled by this idea, the parish council set up a Stronger Communities Committee to make the idea a reality. The fridge will be hosted in the left side entrance hall of Singleton Village Hall (not the main hall used by the pre-school), and will be open during office hours 9am-5pm and whenever the hall is open on evenings and weekends. The parish council will make sure food is available, and will also take regular donations from other food traders, and encourage local residents to drop off any good quality, unopened food that would otherwise go to waste. 

So if you've grown one too many runner beans, or you are off on holiday and your milk will be out of date by the time you get back, just drop it off. Clear signage will be onsite regarding what can and can't be donated. Any changes to opening times or donations will be updated on a dedicated Facebook page Singleton Community Fridge so please give it a Follow.

The parish council would like to thank the Singleton Village Hall trustees for allowing us space to host the fridge, and to Lily's Cafe at Singleton for helping us to keep the fridge clean and tidy.

Our Community Fridge has been well received and is currently running smoothly. But only because we have a small team of dedicated volunteers who help to keep the fridge, cupboard and surrounding area clean, stocked and working. We need more volunteers to join our group to allow each volunteer to do less, and to help cover each other when someone is ill or has other commitments.

The different volunteer roles are:

·         Collecting orders - you will need a car for this but mileage can be claimed

·         Rotating stock - rather than putting everything from one delivery into the fridge, we put a smaller amount out each day to allow more people to have access to it. The person doing this also gives the place a spot clean if needed. But the more people we have doing this, the less times each volunteer needs to come in.

·         Deep cleaners - every few weeks we like to empty everything and give all the storage boxes and equipment a good clean. If you can’t visit on a regular basis, maybe this is a job you could do?

·         Knowledge - do you have experience in running a community fridge or pantry and would like to share this with those running the project.

If you are interested in volunteering, either regularly or for a short period of time, then please contact paula.cowperthwaite@greatchartsingleton-pc.gov.uk for more information.

All volunteers will be offered an induction and the opportunity to complete a Level 1 Hygiene Certificate.