Take what you need; leave what you can — that’s the mantra for the new Bradford Community Fridge.
Wet weather couldn’t dampen spirits as after more than one year in development, the fridge was officially opened to the public outside the entrance to the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library on Oct. 26.
The structure built by the staff at Gwillimdale Farms resembles a slant roof shed with a sliding glass door and a board and batten design with enough room inside for one full-sized refrigerator opposite one full set of shelves.
The fridge will be stocked weekly by Gwillimdale and during the grand opening contained 45 kg of carrots, 45 kg of potatoes, 23 kg of onions, nine kilograms of beets and nine kilograms of parsnips.
“Gwillimdale Farms is honoured to sponsor this initiative. We highly value giving back to our community and we want to help provide access to nutritious food for Bradford residents and especially our delicious root vegetables,” Courtney Walker, marketing manager for Gwillimdale said during the grand opening.
The shelves were stocked with roughly two dozen bags of bagels, two dozen loaves of bread, one dozen cans of soup, one dozen packages of noodles, a few jars of sauce and six more bags of onions.
Carolyn Khan, executive director at the food bank, called the structure "exciting" and "beautiful" while thanking the staff at Gwillimdale for all their "amazing" hard work.
With more than 700 families registered to use the food bank in Bradford, Khan estimated there could be as many as 100 more who are worried about the stigma of using the facility. They could be better helped by the more discrete option of the community fridge.
“If the food bank is overstocked, we will share no problem, but this is where we’re calling on the community to fill the fridge,” she said. “We have our volunteers who are scheduled to come twice a day to prepare, clean and inspect the fridge, but it really does belong to the community.”
Citing Food Banks Canada’s Poverty Report Card, Khan noted that almost 20 per cent of people in the country are food insecure.
“The sobering fact of things is that food bank (and) community fridge use is at an all-time high,” she said. “This is a good start. It’s not a great start, but it’s a good start.”
Khan said having the fridge accessible 24 hours per day, seven days a week will help those in town who need food, especially with the help of donations from both the farm and community members.
Mayor James Leduc acknowledged the irony of seeing food insecurity in an area known for producing 65 per cent of the carrots and onions throughout Canada, recalling that past mayor Rob Keffer had also expressed an interest in having a community fridge.
“I’m glad that the community stepped up and Gwillimdale Farms stepped up, because it’s a tribute to what our community is all about,” Leduc said before the official ribbon cutting.
In an interview after the ceremony, Matthew Corbett, library chief executive officer, expressed his excitement over having “an amazing resource,” right outside the library to help serve the need in the community.
“It aligns really nicely with the goals of the library, and we see so many people coming into our facility everyday that it’s going to get a lot of traffic and we’re going to be able to reach people that really truly need the service,” he said.
