By Dame Jen Greenhalgh
This week, we began our “Dames Give Back” initiative by partnering with the Oasis Hub in Waterloo who run a weekly community fridge among other initiatives. We connected with them via Plan Zheroes CEO Chris Wilkie, whom Dame Kate Howell knows from her time working at Borough Market, where they set up a food waste reduction initiative together. I’m ashamed to say that before signing up for our new initiative I had never heard of the Oasis Hub, but having spent a day meeting and working with wonderful people I will absolutely be back, and I encourage you all to commit to the initiative and seek out a charity local to you if you can’t make any of our future days.
Kate and Dame Stephanie Jackson kicked off the week on Thursday. After an initial mix-up and a map-reading incident that led them to the wrong place we now know never to pick these two to take on a treasure hunt. When they did arrive in the right place they set to work cleaning out fridges and preparing for the community to arrive. Kate embraced her inner greengrocer and made a particularly fabulous, abundant display, seen below.
As is often the case, the deliveries that day were running late. The scheduled delivery from the Felix Project was 90 minutes late, leaving little time to get things laid out and ready. Each pallet has to be unloaded by hand onto trolleys, which is backbreaking and time-consuming. But never fear, when Dame Stephanie is around! She showcased F1-level trolley-driving skills, whizzing all the goods through the courtyard and around a series of obstacles without running anyone over or breaking a single egg. She’ll be off to the Nürburgring in no time.
On Friday, breakfast is served from 10am, and from midday, people enter the hall next door to select from the donated produce that otherwise would have gone to waste. Volunteers and Oasis staff assist distribution and chat happily with all the clients, they obviously have lots of regular visitors and know them well. Someone remembered from last week that it was a guy called Danny’s birthday and that he loves chocolate so a cake was held back and candles lit whilst we all sang “happy birthday”.
Coming to something like a food bank or community fridge can be daunting and no one relishes admitting that they need help, but it was clear to me that Oasis and the great people there had made an atmosphere and setting where everyone felt comfortable and didn’t feel judged or looked down upon. Quite a feat when dealing with such a broad cross section of people.
After selections are made, each person’s shopping basket is weighed to track how much food waste is prevented each week.
It’s a real pick-and-mix of items that get donated: everything from gorgeous fresh peas in the pod and handmade spaghetti to 10 kg sacks of couscous, thousands of small packs of snacking breadsticks, protein bars, bread, chilled goods like yoghurt, oat milk, and cases of fizzy water. It’s really inspiring to see all these things go to people who need them rather than be wasted. Donations come from a full range of places, including Tesco, Ocado, Blackbird Bakery, Gails, and on Friday, a large caterer donated a lot of really generously filled, delicious-sounding sandwiches, which were very popular as many of the people who come to the community fridge do not have the facilities to cook due to being in unsuitable accommodation or being homeless.
On Friday Kate and Stephanie were back, and Dame Cathy Sloman also joined us. My first job was breaking down a 10 kg sack of couscous into individual bags. I think they’ll still be finding grains of couscous under things for years to come. Once that was done, I set about quartering lots of huge watermelons and cutting in half beautifully fresh cauliflowers. Kate expertly assisted, bagging up all the melon and attractively displaying the vegetables, which seems to be her calling. Cathy was put on toast duty in the breakfast room. We weren’t sure she could handle it, but the fire alarm didn’t go off, so I think we can call that a success. At one point, she was in charge of toast and porridge until Stephanie came to assist.
We unpacked and stacked sandwiches, fresh chicken thighs, oranges, pears, huge sliced sourdough loaves, and lovely cake and we all had extreme difficulty opening noodle boxes. Kate and I polished a whole crate of giant courgettes, which was obviously the most important job of the day. “Insert your own filthy joke here”; we know how your minds work.
Kate, Cathy, and Stephanie had to run off at 12 but I was free all day, so I stayed to help distribute the food. We had just over 50 people that day, but the numbers often reach 100+. The community fridge is held at St. George’s Cathedral and having the Cathedral’s resources, facilities, and space really allows Oasis to give the people using the service dignity. I’ve been involved with traditional food banks before, the service can often feel quite cold and dehumanising. Sometimes people are just handed a box of food, which we have no idea if they like, can eat, or cook. Being able to allow people to make choices, interact personally with everyone, and take only the things they like, or can use is so much more personal. I helped several people choose halal and vegan options, for example. Being in need shouldn’t mean you have to forgo dietary requirements, and that’s clearly something that Oasis believes in too.
I’m so pleased that we have formed this new bond and alliance. The whole team at Oasis were great. I had the pleasure of working with the fabulous Evelyn, Sylvia, and Mariam. I’m disappointed to have missed out on Spanish lessons from Colombian volunteer Juan Carlos on Thursday. Maybe next time! He taught Stephanie and Kate all the Spanish names for the fruits and vegetables they were unpacking. Well, at least I hope he did. If either of them get arrested shopping for courgettes in Spain, you’ll know who to blame.
Seeing everyone being able to select their food from the carefully laid out displays made me feel quite emotional and glad that we got to be a tiny part of this huge and dearly needed service.
As a chapter, we are looking to extend our volunteering commitments in London and beyond. Anyone can get involved in their local community fridge projects, check out https://www.communityfridgemap.org.uk/ to find out more about how you can get involved in schemes in your local area.
Do you already volunteer in your local community? If you do, let us know! Send us some pics, we always love to see what our chapter members are up to.