Words by Smiley Team
In the Wiltshire town of Trowbridge, communities experience some of the highest levels of deprivation in England. To turn this around, community manager Zoe Meaden from a local charity, Trowbridge Future, has set out on a mission to support disadvantaged and vulnerable people with free food.
It all started just before lockdown when Zoe was working in a community hub in The Shires Shopping Centre, providing support and advice to residents in need.
“I was using the hub as a conduit to open up conversations with people and find out what their real needs were - what they thought would be a real asset in their community,” she explains.
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Zoe had also established a women’s group, where she became particularly concerned by the issues faced by women having difficulty caring for large families.
“Many were coming and talking to me about the fact they were struggling to put food on the table. As a result of that, they were feeding their children but not themselves,” she says, adding: “To make matters worse, the colder months have forced them to choose between eating or heating.”
What emerged from these discussions, was that food was a basic need that people were struggling to meet, and many deprived families were unwilling to seek help from food banks because of the stigma around accepting charitable help.
Zoe decided to set up local sources of free food and help people become more comfortable about accepting help. She sought funding to create three community fridges, two of which are already installed in some of the town’s poorest areas, as well as a third fridge which will arrive in November.
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Their impact cannot be underestimated. She says: “People using the fridges have said to me that before we came along, they didn’t know how they managed to get by. We’ve helped them bridge the gap between pay days and feel less embarrassed about their situation.”
Meanwhile, the fridges help tackle food waste and Zoe adds: “It’s about feeding bellies, not bins. We source surplus and leftover food from supermarkets, bakeries and local businesses to feed over 100 people. We carefully check all items we receive to ensure it is edible, putting it in a temperature-controlled fridge within 20 minutes of receiving it.”
Their work has had other unexpected benefits, bringing local people together and encouraging them to start their own mutual aid initiatives. Off the back of Trowbridge Future’s projects, local people have started to support one another by donating vegetables from their own gardens. This gives them a source of pride that they’re not only having to rely on the charity of others, they’ve also been able to help themselves.
Find more information at trowbridgefuture.co.uk.
Support their work by donating here.
