Follow the hashtags #whatsinthefridge & #communityfridgeakl to keep up to date on social media, or contribute your snaps.
Launch Day Wednesday 30th November:
There was a lot of interest in the fridge before it even launched due to NZ Herald posting an article on their Facebook page in the morning. The fridge quickly started to go viral from there and I was receiving messages from the media, friends and members of the public at such a rate that my phone decided it was too much and called it quits at 10.30am (i.e. half an hour after launch). Fortunately the Griffiths Gardens site has cubby holes with phone chargers!
Love Food Hate Waste had done a fantastic job and making sure the fridge was fully stocked with rescued food for the launch. The bakery food came from Pukeko Bakery in Browns Bay and the oranges were picked fresh from a garden tree.
I was on site for most of the morning as I was interviewed by the media. I noticed there was a wide variety of people from different backgrounds using the fridge, including workers on their lunch break, tourists, teenagers on school holidays, and homeless people. Everyone took the time to read the signage on the fridge and carefully select their items. There had been some donations throughout the day, as every time I opened
the fridge the contents was different. The food donated by Ben Barton
from Scarecrow went within an hour.
There was also a note attached to the shelter from a traveler needing a sleeping bag. I later learned they had helped stock the fridge.
I went back at lunchtime and there were some more bakery items. I nabbed myself a sweet tart for afternoon tea. St Pierre's Sushi posted on FB that they donated also, this must have been snapped up pretty quickly!
The Marketing Association is happy to support Love Food Hate Waste - New Zealand with their wonderful Community Fridge! 🍽🍎🍌🍞🍪😍 @LFHW_NZpic.twitter.com/rWKz5r5woL
I don't have a photo of the evening unfortunately, there were some items in the fridge but not many.
Day 6: Monday 5 December
Morning: There were some sandwiches in the fridge but as they were uncovered and looked a bit passed it I tossed them in the compost. The fridge was now empty.
Evening:
I visited the fridge only 10 minutes after this photo was taken and the fridge was completely empty!
Since launching the fridge I have been contacted by numerous people asking how to be involved (volunteer roster is full sorry!) and how to set up their own. A fridge has since been set up, alongside the existing sharing pantry at Whangaparoa Hall.
The strangest thing to happen to the fridge so far is the mystery of the disappearing water. To help with temperature control, as it's getting really hot out and the fridge door is constantly opened, my friends and I have been leaving bottles of water in the fridge and freezer. These bottles are random juice and milk bottles taking from the recycling bins at our offices. Every morning I check the fridge and the bottles are gone. I wrote on one of the bottles "please do not remove" but it was still taken. My thoughts are that either cold clean drinking water is a lot harder to come by in the city than previously thought, or that someone is watering the gardens with this water. I think it is the former, as there are no public taps close by (Aotea Square is the closes) and some of the bottles are frozen . Either way it doesn't bother me, I am glad someone finds it useful! There is a yogurt container full of water in the fridge very clearly labelled which has not yet been removed. The water in the container is used to check the fridge temperature twice daily, as long as this one isn't taken then the disappearing water bottles aren't a problem!