Mum with only 14p in her purse walks six miles to fill her bags with free food from community fridge in Milton Keynes

Demand has more than doubled for the Coffee Hall Community Fridge, which has distributed more than 12 tonnes of surplus food in the past three months alone.

Operated by Woughton Community Council, the scheme makes use of surplus food that would otherwise go to landfill from retailers across MK .

It was forced to close during the first lockdown but, since reopening in the summer, has come up with a Covid-safe way to operate from the doorway at the the Coffee Hall Community Centre.

The community fridge will stay open during this lockdown, when it will be needed more than ever.

Sean Perry, Community Services Manager at Woughton Community Council said“Although the community fridge is first and foremost a food waste reduction project it’s clear that many MK residents are struggling to make ends meet.

"One service user explained they only had 14p left and had made a six-mile round trip on foot to get to the Community Fridge. She had been living on toast to ensure her teenage son did not go hungry in half term.”

The fridge project also serves as a portal for a wide range of services offered by the community council. These include wellbeing, benefits advice, and environment services.

Sean said: “We’re really pleased to play our part in preventing perfectly good food from going to landfill. The

community fridge is much more than that, though. We’ve been supported by amazing volunteers

from our local community who are key to keeping the fridge running smoothly.”

He added: “Since reopening in July we’ve gone from distributing around 600kg of surplus food per week to over 1500g last week. We have expanded our opening hours to prevent queues to ensure food is not wasted."

The food is collected by Food Connect, which uses a fleet of environmentally friendly electric vehicles, including an e-cargo bike and trailer.

Woughton Community Council Leader Donna Fuller said: “I’d like to thank the team and our volunteers for everything they do. Their fantastic work shows just how rich Woughton is in community spirit.

As well as playing our part in reducing waste, the Community Fridge has become a real lifeline for some people experiencing challenging circumstances.”

The fridge will be open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between the hours of 10am and 2pm.