Community fridge in Hunter River busier than expected

The community fridge in Hunter River started as a small project nine months ago, but now the project is highlighting greater needs in the community.

The municipality didn't anticipate just how much the fridge would be used, says Sarah Weeks, Chief Administrative Officer for the rural municipality.

"I don't know if we ever realized what the need would be. I think we were hoping we would do this and it wouldn't be widely used. We were hoping that residents were in a far better scenario than they are," Weeks said.

"Being where we are located, we are very central so we get a lot of residents from outlying communities not just Hunter River."

The project was funded with help from the province's Island Community Food Security Program to build the fridge and stock it, but now more money is needed to keep the fridge running, Weeks said.

"We've reapplied to that fund to help stock it," she said, adding the community is also helping keep food in the fridge.

"The Lion's Club, the women's institutes, the early learning centre was over last week with a great donation after their Christmas concert. The school has contributed and of course residents as well."

About six weeks ago there was a large increase in demand, Weeks said.

"I suspect you got your seasonal workers who are making that switch from being fully employed to being on their EI. And just, you know, school supplies and all those little expenses that kind of pop up in the fall making it harder to make ends meet," she said.

The municipality doesn't know exactly how many people are using the fridge.

"That's the beauty of our location, it's not really monitored," Weeks said.

Weeks does see people stop by the fridge when she is at the office, but doesn't know if they are picking up or dropping off items, making it as anonymous as possible. Although some users did stop into the municipal office to thank the community for setting the fridge up, she said.

Weeks checks the fridge every morning, before she leaves work and sometimes stops by on weekends.

"Some days I have to fully stock it. Other days I may have to give it a little fluff and add a couple things here and there," Weeks said.

"We're definitely noticing that people are digging deep and when they stop at the grocery store and something is on sale they are popping in and dropping a few extra things off, which is great. And it doesn't have to be anything big, you know, you don't have to bring bags and bags of groceries. A couple of cans of soup or a dozen eggs goes a long way."

The need for the fridge has highlighted issues in the community which municipal council and staff might not have noticed otherwise, Weeks said. Now the municipality is looking at other services it could offer, such as cooking classes, to help those struggling in the community.