Cambridgeshire community fridge ready for half-term demand
It's preparing for families to attend over the school half-term holiday
A community fridge in Cambridgeshire could be welcoming more families in need of different kinds of support over the school half-term holiday.
Oxmoor Community Fridge, based at Thongsley Fields Primary and Nursery School in Huntingdon, supplies around 95 kilogrammes of food per week including bread, vegetables and tinned items.
It costs the scheme around ÂŁ150-200 a week to supply enough stock from supermarkets to cater for a particular week, and since it first opened in 2021, the scheme has seen a decline in the number of users.
"The only thing we can do is to work as a team"
Patrick Kadewere helps run the fridge, which also hosts a hygiene bank for people needing personal care and cleaning essentials.
"Sometimes it might not be easy to get the food because it comes from the supermarkets, and when the supermarkets don't have that food, that means we won't get any (of that item)," he said.
"It's the food which is accessed from the supermarkets and instead of them throwing the food away because they've got five or six days left of life, they bring them to the fridge so we can save that food from going to landfill.
"The only thing we can do is to work as a team; some volunteers come up with ideas of 'let's do the cooking' and then people can come and have something to eat."
Need for food
The half-term holiday comes as the number of emergency food parcels given out in the countyhas risen in the last five years, according to the Trussell Trust.
Meanwhile, Cambridgeshire County Council are running its supermarket voucher scheme during the week for eligible families.
Patrick, whose team of 12 volunteers help cater for the community in and around the Oxmoor area of Huntingdon, says people won't be short of support.
"If you need food, hygiene items, any other support, we work in partnership with other organisations and will refer you to that organisation which caters for your problem."