Westfield Community Fridge celebrates first year

Volunteers and regular visitors to Westfield Community Fridge gathered last week to celebrate the fridge’s first anniversary, braving the heat to enjoy an indoor picnic and a specially made birthday cake.

Mayor of Woking Cllr Rob Leach and local councillors Louise Morales and Deborah Hughes also came to mark the occasion.

Community fridges rescue surplus food that would otherwise go to waste, offering it to anyone who can use it.

Since opening at St Mark’s Church, Westfield Community Fridge has distributed 9,616kg of surplus food, welcoming an average of 36 visitors at each weekly session.

Rev Rachel Johnson, who leads the project, said: “It’s hard to believe we’ve been going for a year! A community fridge is such a win-win – reducing food waste helps the environment, it helps people whose budgets are stretched and it’s been lovely to see the friendships that have grown between the regular visitors and volunteers.

“I’ve been blown away by the support we’ve received from the community.”

Westfield resident Michelle Francis, who has been coming regularly since the community fridge opened, said: “Originally I came to stop food waste but now it’s to help with cost of living too. I’ve met lots of new people and get so much support, advice or a friendly chat. It’s an asset we don’t want to lose.”

Rev Jonathan Thomas, vicar of St Mark’s, added: “As a church we want to share the love of God with everyone in our community and that includes meeting practical needs as well as spiritual needs. Everyone is welcome to the community fridge and everyone is welcome to our Sunday services.”

Rachel and her team of volunteers from the church and the wider community are looking forward to making Westfield Community Fridge even bigger and better over the next year so that they can continue reducing waste and building community.