An east Brighton community fridge project has received £6,000 to continue and build on its work in the Bristol Estate.
The Bristol Estate community room, on Donald Hall Road, has played host to a community fridge project run by volunteers for the last six months.
The project allows residents to pay what they can afford for fresh produce.
Last week it won funding from a national network of community fridges, coordinated by social enterprise, Hubbub.
Aside from continuing its work with Sussex Surplus to provide fresh fruit, vegetables and other groceries, the project runs alongside the community living room in the community centre and is aiming to start running cooking workshops.
Project co-founder and paramedic, Ben D’Montigny said: “Initially, we applied for some funding to help set up.
“When the cost of living crisis really started – when we started noticing it was really going to be an issue – we needed to make sure that we were able to continue to provide this offering and keep going with it, more in the long term.
“I was keen for it not to be just a food bank. I think we need to also be addressing other issues as well.
“On the Bristol Estate we have a much higher than average older population, much higher than average families, and much higher than average people with additional health needs.
“There’s that real sense of vulnerability in Bristol Estate.
“One of the key things when we were reaching out, particularly after the pandemic, was social isolation and vulnerability, they were real risk areas.
“So there’s a real need from that to show up, and provide a way for people to engage with the community, to make sure that they’re fed, watered and looked after.
“We want to provide workshops as well that teach people how to cook, particularly with more unusual ingredients that they may not have used before, which will be one of the projects which is going to be helped with our partner organisations.
“We have our shared allotments, so people could theoretically grow food from our allotments, take it into our kitchen, learn how to cook it for themselves, and they’ve made a meal straight from ground to plate.
“It helps to create a more holistic approach to how we look after people in a way that protects their autonomy and also keeps their dignity, that doesn’t make them feel like I’ve had to go to a food bank and feel bad about it.”
The Community Fridge Network supported by Hubbub currently has more than 300 fridges across the UK, and another 500 are to be set up by the end of 2023.
The Bristol Estate Community Room is open Tuesday to Thursday from 10am to 4pm, for access to the community fridge, the community living room and the cooking workshops.
