Community Fridge Tackles Food Security

Community Fridge

PROJECT TACKLES STUDENT FOOD SECURITY

Sara Madill wanted to make a difference in the community, so when it was time for the Land and Water Management student to choose a capstone project, she created an opportunity to address food security among fellow students— working to reduce food waste at the same time.

“There’s lots of stress involved in being a student already, and it can be hard to keep on top of buying and purchasing healthy food, especially when those healthier foods can be more expensive …so having this type of initiative on campus can help students who may be struggling,” said Madill.

After consultation with the Assiniboine Students’ Association, Madill got to work acquiring and stocking a community fridge on the college’s Victoria Avenue East Campus, providing food for students or staff who might be in need.

With funding from the Students’ Association, Madill found a used fridge on a local buy and sell website, picked it up, scrubbed it down and put it in an allocated spot near the Students’ Association lounge.

“Food security is a considerable concern for our college students, as studying full-time can cause financial stress,” said Assiniboine Students’ Association Executive Director, Matthew May. “The elected members of the Students’ Association Council immediately resonated with Sara’s vision and wanted to see this as part of the food security offerings for students at Assiniboine.”

“Having a full kitchen helps students stay healthy and energized to keep up with the demanding rigors of their programs.”

Working closely in partnership with the Brandon Food Council, Madill was able to fully stock the fridge twice since it got up and running in mid-March.

“The first shipment was amazing, we had the whole fridge full,” Madill said. “I know that’s not something we can sustain consistently, but we hope in the future that we get more partnerships and get a big committee created so we have lots of help and more donors.” it and maintaining it, I’ve had a lot of students come up and ask me when the next shipment would be in or telling me that it’s great and they like the idea."

The most challenging part of the project was navigating the food donation guidelines, Madill added.

“There’s a lot of rules and regulations on what you can and cannot stock, but it’s understandable. You don’t want to have anyone getting sick,” Madill said.

James Hood, an instructor at Assiniboine who oversaw Madill’s project, said the idea of a community fridge was new to him when Madill pitched it.

“The idea of sort of a barrier-free, stigma-free place for people to deal with some of these food insecurities, I thought was a fabulous idea. I had some concerns about how well it would work, but I think those were alleviated even before it got up and running. She was able to demonstrate examples from other places and was in contact with a couple of other organizations that were running community fridges in Canada,” Hood said. “(These projects) are really an education process for the instructors as well. The students become the experts by the end and make the projects work … It’s the best part of the job, to see their knowledge and their confidence grow throughout the process.”

The Manitoba Institute of Culinary Arts at Assiniboine has provided food donations as well, Madill said. Madill graduated from the college in June, but plans for her project to continue on campus are already in place.

“It’s definitely something that’s needed on campus. I’ve seen a need for it just in the month we’ve had it up and running,” Madill said in April 2022, while her program was still in session. “When I’m there cleaning “I’m happy that it is going to be carried on, because I think there is a need for it on campus,” Madill said. “All the hard work definitely paid off.”