Dorothy Parkes Centre in Smethwick now has a community fridge, the first one in the area. We went along to find out more.
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00:00Here at Dorothy Park Centre in Smebic and we're with the lovely Christina.
00:04Hello. Hiya. Hiya. What are we doing here today Christina? There's a big lovely, what looks quite
00:10a new fridge over your shoulder. What's going on here? Yesterday we launched our new community
00:14fridge. It's called Dottie's Community Fridge. It's available to everybody and anybody, regardless
00:21of your financial situation or where you live. The main aim of the fridge is to reduce food waste.
00:27So we want to put food in bellies, not bins. We're in contact with an amazing project down
00:33in Winsome Green which is called Incredible Surplus. So they've supplied a lot of the food
00:38that you can see here today. We've also got contacts with Neighbourly. We've got an amazing
00:44award-winning community allotment which is down in Bearwood on Dale Street. So all of the fresh
00:49produce is produced at our own allotment. We grow it there. All organic. Reducing food miles as well.
00:58So is this for people that are coming in and using the centre or are you kind of welcoming
01:03people from the community around to venture in for the first time even?
01:08Yeah absolutely. We're more than happy to have new people come into the centre.
01:12It's available to people that currently use the centre or if there's any new people
01:16that have heard about the fridge, they want to access it, they're more than welcome to come in.
01:21We're hoping to give a minimum of three items but because it is surplus food we can't always guarantee.
01:27Sometimes you might get more food, sometimes it might be a bit less. People are also welcome to
01:33donate to the fridge as well. So if you're at home and you've got some meals that you know you're not
01:37going to eat before the best before date, you're welcome to come. Drop them off and we'll share
01:42them with the community via the fridge. So what percentage of this project is about
01:50food ending up in bellies rather than bins and what percentage of it is about helping
01:55people that are on that breadline and struggling? Is it a 50-50 on that? Yeah 50-50 really.
02:00It's just about sharing what we've got, bringing people together, reducing food waste and just
02:05supporting each other. Awesome. Who supplied the fridge? Did you manage to get a grant?
02:11Funding from Hubbub and we received funding from the Heart of England.
02:15So what's your official title here then Christina? Projects Manager. Fantastic. And I was going to
02:20say Dottie's Fridge, where's the name come from? But of course it's because Dorothy Parks isn't it?
02:24Absolutely yeah. Then Dorothy Parks, who was Dorothy Parks? So Dorothy, I know gosh,
02:31we've actually got a picture of Dorothy on the wall there. Yeah. So she was a local lady that
02:36left her legacy to the local area for the local community so that they built the community centre
02:44and the connection with Smedwick Old Church just across the road. So very fitting that the fridge
02:49is named after her isn't it really? Yeah totally. So what we've got, milk in there, juices? Yeah
02:56we've got the fresh food from the allotment, we've got some beautiful cheeses. I mean yesterday when
03:02we had it open because it's obviously been used now. So yesterday we had a huge amount of lamb
03:07chops, loads of lovely french ham, meatballs, some ready meals, lots of curries. We've got some
03:16fresh meats down there and like you say juices, milk, butter, yoghurts. Awesome and is that,
03:21we've got a freezer involved as well? So there's frozen food as well? We've got a local convenience
03:26store that donates. So we've got lots of fresh bread. And that's all the stuff that other,
03:33because it's close to that date? Yeah absolutely. So if we hadn't have got this, some of this might
03:38have ended up in bins or landfill. We were able to rescue the food and share it with the community.
03:43What's the local convenience store, are they remaining anonymous? No no it's Carl's Convenience.
03:48Well done Carl's Convenience. Yeah fantastic. Well fantastic project. I've not come across a
03:52community feature before, so it's a new one on me. It's the first one of its kind in this area.
03:59Definitely, well well done Christina. Thank you.