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First meeting, volunteer induction and mock larder

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Our first meeting about a Leys community larder was on 11 September 2019.  The aim was to gauge if there was interest in the idea, and possibly to recruit volunteers.  About 25 people showed up to the first meeting and half a dozen possible volunteers emerged.

From then on things moved very quickly.

We had a volunteer induction on 25 September, led by Claire Hughes.  The volunteers learned about how Sofea operates, where the food comes from, what kind of food would be provided etc.  We agreed that the volunteers would get red T shirts with logos.  Volunteers get a free membership.

The next week we had a ‘mock larder’.  Sofea brought some food, we learned how to set it up on the tables and how to keep it off the ground; how to get people signed up; how to deal with some possible problems… and possible future larder members were invited to visit the mock larder and sign up.

 

We visit the Didcot community larder

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So I’m starting this blog a bit late in the day, four weeks into the Leys community larder becoming operational, but I wanted to record how the Leys larder got set up.

I contacted FareShare in summer 2019 with the intention of buying more food from FareShare for the Leys community fridge.  Claire Hughes from Sofea (the apprentice training arm of FareShare) contacted me back, suggesting that we might want to set up a community larder instead.  If we supplied a venue and volunteers, Sofea would supply everything else: food, admin, the works.

Between us, we visited the Didcot larder – the first in the country – twice in July.  We were very impressed by it, and made a little video about it:

Larder photo

Basically it’s a food club.  People pay £8.66 per month direct debit (£17.32 for a family membership), and in return they get access to a cafe, children’s play area, a couple of annual events… and up to 10 (20 for families) items of non-perishables per week, plus free fruit and vegetables.  The food comes from FareShare, who in turn get it as surplus food from wholesalers.  The aim is to reduce food waste, build some community spirit, and get food to peole who can use it.  Perfect for Blackbird Leys.

Day in the life of the Botley fridge

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Three little fridge stories.

As Colin and Sally were checking the fridge today, a couple came to them and thanked them profusely.  They had only recently discovered the fridge, were struggling with paying the rent, and they said that they fridge is a lifesaver.

A woman who had used the ‘in need’ shelving in the past brought a carrier bag of tins and biscuits to Rev. Clare to put in the fridge, as a thank you.

Three hours ago I picked up 60 bags of carrots (30kg) from Tesco, rammed them into the fridge, and wrote a short Facebook post – not even including a photo – about it.  I’ve just checked the fridge and half of those carrots have gone to good homes:

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Rowse cakes

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Thank you to Rowse (and the magnificent Naomi in high vis) for a very full car of delicious, in date Italian cakes.  They all went to the Didcot and Abingdon food banks.  There were some hairy moments at the roundabouts when the cakes went flying from the back to the front, but all’s well etc.

Naomi at Rowse

Food parcels for the Gatehouse

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Food for Charities has just handed out 58 food parcels to guests of the Gatehouse.  The Gatehouse is a soup kitchen that normally serves 60-70 guests per day, but it will be shut for the next fortnight, hence the need for the food parcels.  Each parcel contained three tins of baked beans, one tin of spaghetti and one of soup, 10 tea bags, two sweets, a fork or spoon, and information about other places in Oxford that people can get food.

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A few people said that the bags were too heavy to carry, and a few didn’t want them because they had no way of heating up the food (and like it hot).  But in most cases the bags were very gratefully received.

Eggs eggs eggs

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Thank you to the Pig Place in Adderbury who gave us 690 hen eggs and 180 duck eggs from the beautiful free-range birds.  They’re just starting to lay and the eggs don’t have a Lion mark, but so far almost half have gone: to the Foyer in Banbury, O’Hanlon House and the Botley community fridge.  We’ll bring the rest around to charities this week.