SAX Community Fridge receives grant from Sizewell C Community Fund
- SAX Community Fridge one of eight projects awarded a share of just over £660,000 in the latest round of Sizewell C Community Fund grants
- The Saxmundham project has been hailed for bringing the community together
- The latest awards take the total distributed since the fund was launched just over a year ago to around £3m
An innovative project that brings the community together by redistributing surplus food has received a £12,117 grant from the Sizewell C Community Fund.
SAX Community Fridge, run entirely by volunteers, collects fresh produce from supermarkets, bakeries and greengrocers, and shares it out at regular community drop-in sessions in Saxmundham.
Held behind The Old Bank, in the Riverside Garden, the sessions offer food that is near or just past its ‘best before’ date and would otherwise go to landfill.
Those attending are also able to enjoy a coffee, cake and chat with others, in turn boosting wellbeing and tackling social isolation.
Jenna, a mother of two who recently moved to Saxmundham from the Midlands, said: “Coming to the Community Fridge each week has given us a real sense of community, and it’s amazing the difference it has made to our food bill. Everybody has been so lovely, and now when we walk through town we have people to wave at because we’ve met so many wonderful people here.”
The newly awarded funding will support the project over the next three years, covering the cost of coffee, tea and cake which form an essential part of the welcome which SAX Community Fridge provides to local people. It will also help meet running costs, such as such as rent and volunteer expenses.
Lead volunteer Martin Thorold, who helps to run the project alongside its founder Marion Hedley Lewis, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have received a grant from the Sizewell C Community Fund. Whilst our core goal is preventing food waste, what we’re most proud of is the community that’s grown around our twice-weekly sessions in Saxmundham. Each gathering welcomes between 50 and 100 visitors who come not just for food, but also to enjoy coffee, cake and conversation. Now in our fourth year, these sessions have helped reduce loneliness, support mental health and bring together people from across the area who might not otherwise meet.”
The Sizewell C Community Fund is managed by Suffolk Community Foundation. It is making around £2m available each year to projects in the East Suffolk Council area which promote the economic, social or environmental wellbeing of the communities closest to, and most impacted by, the construction of Sizewell C, and which enhance people’s quality of life.
SAX Community Fridge was one of eight projects awarded a share of just over £660,000 in the latest round of grants. Others to benefit included Ogilvie Pavilion & Sports Ground in Aldringham-cum-Thorpe, Rural Coffee Caravan, Cohere Arts and an initiative to upgrade Saxmundham adventure playground.
The latest awards take the total distributed since the fund was launched just over a year ago to around £3m.
For more information about the fund, eligibility criteria and how to apply, visit www.suffolkcf.org.uk or call 01473 602 602.