Let’s face it: in some cases, COVID19 brought out the worst of us. We didn’t know how to stay safe, and – as we panicked – we often chose selfishness over helping others. But COVID19 isn’t just about stockpiling toilet paper and stealing the last packet of pasta from old ladies (interestly, in their research ‘Learning to do Food Shopping in Lockdown’, Dr Sabine Parrish and Prof Stanley Ulijaszekas found that there was a general tendency of blaming “mysterious others” for such behaviours!). The pandemic has also incentivized incredible efforts to help the people that needed it the most. 

 

Different charities in the UK reacted promptly to the start of the crisis, not only by collaborating with councils, but also by taking the leadership and creating “food groups”, composed of food banks, charities, faith communities and other organisations. These groups coordinated their efforts and agendas in order to help communities with actions such as the distribution of food parcels and the support of local businesses. Examples of this phenomenon include FoodWise in Leeds, who launched the GoodBox vegbox scheme to deliver sustainable food to whom couldn’t afford it; The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, who delivered food parcels to over 3,000 households through the creation of new neighbourhood “hubs”; and The Active Wellbeing Society in Birmingham, who fed over 21,000 vulnerable people each week during lockdown (source).

 

Even restaurants and other private food businesses, who were also experiencing difficulties related to the pandemic, decided to do what they could to help the community. Donating meals to those who needed them became a common practice thanks to COVID19. Restaurants also started making more efforts to donate surplus food and ingredients to food banks and community fridges (source).

 

The community fridge “trend”, in fact, seems to have bloomed during this pandemic. Although they already existed before, community fridges became much more common after COVID19, as many people lost their jobs and faced issues of food insecurity and hunger. This phenomenon has now become deeply entrenched in neighbourhoods. This resource is valued not only as a place where to get free food, but as an important part of many people’s social lives (source).

 

Community fridges are not just “fridges”, but social spaces that have the power to bring people together, eat, connect, learn new skills and reduce food waste. Most importantly, they are places that push people to care for one another. Initiatives such as Habbub also suggest that these fridges are not one off isolated episodes of altruism, but a nation wide phenomenon running through the whole of the UK (source).

 

But what about Hillingdon? Does Hillingdon have a community fridge? What was its role during the pandemic? Are there any charities that played an important role in helping the neighbourhood food-wise in the past few years? 

 

Were you involved in any initiative of the kind, or do you know about anyone that has? Tell us your story at hillingdonfoodstories@gmail.com!