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Our Community Fridge is now one year old!

It’s now been a full year since we opened Higher Blackley’s Community Fridge to the whole community. It’s open every Tuesday between 3 and 4pm.

Community Fridges work on an honesty basis and are housed in accessible places, making surplus food freely available to local people. Surplus perishable food is donated by businesses or members of the public and then made available for all. They are open to everyone, regardless of means and are not a food bank, or a solution to food poverty.

Each week we have been welcoming between 25-30 families. Here’s what our visitors say: “Community Fridge is such an amazing way to save food from going to waste. The staff are very friendly. There is no stigma with coming here.”  

“Thank you for helping this community”. 

Our students have been involved in the project, helping us to raise awareness, to get donations, to make our shelves look tidy and appealing and more.

 

Our 2023 in review:

 

  • Over 1100 visits

  • Over 5500Kg of food and hygiene products redistributed - much of which would otherwise have gone to waste!

Can you help?

  • We are always looking for donations of food and hygiene products - have you got something that might otherwise go to waste?

  • Could you volunteer on an occasional Tuesday, 3-4pm? Or help us stock shelves after a delivery?

  • We are always in need of plastic bags and empty soap bottles! There’s a donation point in reception. 

You can find out more about our Fridge at https://www.manchester.coopacademies.co.uk/fridge 

We are members of the Community Fridge network (coordinated by Hubbub), the Our Manchester Food Partnership, and FareShare Greater Manchester. We have received donations from a number of businesses including regular donations from MCKS. 

You may also be interested to find out more about our Uniform Exchange scheme - we make preloved uniform available for free and we accept donations of items your child has outgrown through the year. Find out more at https://www.manchester.coopacademies.co.uk/uniform-exchange.