Reading’s first community fridge is now up and running. New Beginnings Community Fridge opened its fridge door on 21 December 2018.

Community Fridges provide a place for local residents and businesses to donate surplus food, which is then available for anyone in the community to take. A great way to combat both food waste and poverty. New Beginnings immediately saw how this fitted with their goals of relieving hardship, providing practical help and combatting loneliness and exclusion.
The team at Reading Sustainability Centre presented the idea and offered initial advice on funding and management models. Reading Rotary provided a grant to enable New Beginnings to buy a suitable fridge and other resources.
To find out more about the New Beginning’s Community Fridge there is a fuller description of the service, including opening times, on the New Beginnings web site. The is also a short video interview with Grace Gomez explaining their hopes for the service as well as interviews with users and volunteer helpers.

Well done New Beginnings, wonderful to see how you are helping people.