Nikaela Lange knows that food shortages are a local challenge. She hopes the solution is local too.
Lange is part of a small group working to build a community refrigerator in Saskatoon’s Riversdale area so people can quickly pick up the food they need but otherwise can’t pay for.
“Saskatoon is struggling with food insecurity,” she said.
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“We realized that of course there was a real need in the community during the pandemic and also before the pandemic.”
Lange said she started volunteering in the industry a few months ago. The experience made her realize how unaffordable and inaccessible food can be.
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The group is based on similar projects in Calgary, Toronto and a newly opened refrigerator in Regina. They want to build a small shelter and pantry around a refrigerator and stock them with groceries.
“It should be available around the clock so that people can just drop by, drop by, take what they need, and they can also hand in things as they need,” said Lange.
She said her group is reaching out to local businesses to find a place for the refrigerator and cover the cost of electricity.
They also look for restaurants and count on local residents to donate food.
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Regina Community Fridge didn’t open until mid-December, but founder Danielle Froh said the first few weeks had been extremely busy – and heartbreaking.
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“When small children come to the fridge to eat something, mothers with strollers and people who haven’t eaten in a few days, it really breaks your heart,” she said of Zoom.
It’s located at 3037 Dewdney Avenue, behind the Regina Family Pharmacy.
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Glad told Global News that a local construction company built the property and restaurants, and that Regina residents are delivering groceries. The cafes and bakeries deliver unsold bread and sandwiches and people donate an extra bag of milk or fruit.
She said she and the team of volunteers fill the refrigerator two or three times a day and it is usually empty 30 minutes later. Sometimes the food doesn’t even make it into the fridge because someone is waiting by the fridge.
Deborah Hamp, the operations director of the Saskatoon Food Bank, said that many people take a full refrigerator for granted while many others in town struggle to get enough food.
“Open the fridge and there is milk or fruit or vegetables. That’s just not the reality for thousands of people in Saskatoon, ”she said of Zoom.
Last year, the food bank distributed nearly 231,000 emergency grocery baskets and, according to its annual report, provided more than 67,000 pounds (or 30,500 kg) of food to other community-based facilities for their own programs.
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She said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed, not created, major societal inequalities. Hunger is linked to poverty, she said, and there must be a solution.
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“We really have to look at things like a living wage, we have to make sure that people receive dignified support that keeps up with inflation.”
“People don’t have enough money in their pockets,” she said.
She also told Global News that the Tafel is happy to support the beginning refrigerator, saying, “If it will be something that works for people and brings food into people’s homes, I think that’s great.”
Lange emphasized that the project should work together with other programs in the city.
“Even though there are really good resources in the community, like the chalkboard, people still fall through the cracks, people are still hungry, people are still cold,” she said.
Lange hopes to be able to use the refrigerator in the spring.
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