Food banks, community larders and payment

If you went along the being green route so helping the planet you will get another demographic as well . Some people don’t want to go to food banks for various reasons. If u worded as they are helping you rather than you helping them. Donations tin can be there to use for various purposes .

Germanshepherdsmum

I do think it’s important for people to feel they are doing something good and positive - preventing food waste - rather than being given something as charity. Important for their self-esteem and for the success of this and other such schemes.

Exactly, I volunteer at our Community Fridge and that is very much the ethos. It is run by volunteers and doesn't charge and people can take what they want, although we do have a sign asking people to only take what they can use (the items mostly have very short best before dates)

I do not actually know the answer to this but, if you charge, would you not need to register as a charity in that case? Which could be complicated from an administrative point of view. If the food is free to you then it should be free to all, maybe a voluntary donation box to cover costs of room/electricity etc?

We have one of these but I’ve never been there because I don’t want to take food which others need more than I do.
Offering surplus food which would otherwise be wasted is a great idea but it overlaps with the food banks, which fulfil a vital but different function.
I think it should be made very clear what a community fridge is and the food should be paid for. The proceeds could go to help a food bank or to provide free meals for hungry children.

I use a few of these
The Wednesday one does what you are doing plus also provides tinned and packet goods, cleaning items and pet foods etc. You can take as much or as little as you like. They have a charity can on the counter that you can pop money into if you want. Nobody sees what you put in, and nobody sees if you put in nothing. This one is based in a community centre and a nice hot meal is also available for free as they use some of the donated products.

The Saturday one is the same idea, the donated food is free and you can "buy" extra items that they buy at a cash and carry things like tins, baby items, and cleaning products but I feel these are more expensive than some of the cheap shops but saves you trailing the shops. They charge you per item at a price they have set based on what they paid.

We have a local nursery that works with fareshare and when they get items they just leave them outside for people to take.

If you have overheads to cover then contributions are handy. But as someone who had struggled financially for a few months due to illness and losing my job these places are a godsend and some weeks to have been expected to pay a contribution, even a pound or two would have made it impossible for me to go.
I also pick up from people, ordinary people like you and I, through Olio and it is entirely about saving waste.

It seems to me that there are different models of "community larder". I think the rationale needs to be very clear. It's not a food bank and is open to all.

PS. All the goods at the scheme I use are perishable. There are no tinned or packet goods (apart from bread). This is about supermarket/suppler surplus only. It would go into landfill that day, if not taken.

We have a few around here and I often drop off food to them. There is a food bank run by the Salvation Army and it is packed floor to ceiling with tins, packets, boxes etc. It is free and anybody can use it.

There’s another in a small town but that seems to be a registered one because you have to be referred and can only use it so many times.

Another is more a community fridge at a family centre. Allotment holders drop off excess veg, supermarkets donate items close to date and people donate items. Anybody can use it but you have to weigh what you take and write it down. You don’t have to give your name but every few months they total it up and they can say how much weight they have saved from going to landfill.

growstuff

It seems to me that there are different models of "community larder". I think the rationale needs to be very clear. It's not a food bank and is open to all.

This

And this:

these places are a godsend and some weeks to have been expected to pay a contribution, even a pound or two would have made it impossible for me to go

The people running them and the people using them are saving this food from being wasted and are helping to save the planet.

If you're buying stuff to sell (even at cost), are you acting as a trader? Doesn't it then become more complicated? A place like that is operating more like a cut price store.

I agree growstuff. I suggested upthread that complications would arise from taking money. If the idea is purely to stop waste, don’t turn it into a food bank by providing anything other than donated perishable items that need to be used quickly.

Primrose53

We have a few around here and I often drop off food to them. There is a food bank run by the Salvation Army and it is packed floor to ceiling with tins, packets, boxes etc. It is free and anybody can use it.

There’s another in a small town but that seems to be a registered one because you have to be referred and can only use it so many times.

Another is more a community fridge at a family centre. Allotment holders drop off excess veg, supermarkets donate items close to date and people donate items. Anybody can use it but you have to weigh what you take and write it down. You don’t have to give your name but every few months they total it up and they can say how much weight they have saved from going to landfill.

At the church where my parents are buried they have the whole large entrance porch full of donated food and toiletries which anybody in need can help themselves to. It is always open during daylight hours.