NewmarketToday continues its annual tradition of marking the giving season by celebrating Newmarket's Community Angels — the people whose kindness, compassion and community spirit help make our town one of the best to live in the country.
Every day the Newmarket Community Fridge is open for those who need food, thanks to the team of volunteers working every day to make that happen.
On any given day, there are about three volunteers at the fridge, which is located outside the Newmarket Public Library, one delivering food picked up from local businesses and two cleaning shifts. There is a roster of about 45 volunteer cleaners and 15 drivers who give their time to maintaining the fridge.
"We wouldn't be able to do it without them," said Vesna Mitchell, resource development coordinator at the Newmarket Food Pantry, who oversees the fridge.
The fridge first opened in June of this year and has been operating non-stop since then, even amid snowstorms and wintry weather, due to the dedicated volunteers.
During the recent heavy snowfall, delivery drivers still went around to the local grocery stores and restaurants, Mitchell said. Meanwhile, the cleaners are dealing with frozen cleaning supplies and cold hands but they remain on the job.
Pam Murray, who does a weekly cleaning shift at the fridge, signs up online for the slot that works best for her and then goes and clean any spills, organizes donations, makes sure nothing is expired, and just keeps up the general cleanliness.
She got involved after seeing the fridge outside the library, where she makes regular visits. Then she saw on Facebook that they were looking for volunteers and decided to sign up.
"I appreciate the non-judgmental piece of it that you know, there's no judgment on people that are donating or accessing. I really liked that philosophy. You never know what people are going through," Murray said.
She has come to enjoy her weekly cleanings and said it's also a chance to chat with people in the community and those accessing the fridge.
"It seems like a simple thing, just cleaning the fridge, but very often you're interacting with people," she said.
Vanessa Gorgonio volunteers on the driving team. Several times a week she picks up leftover prepared food from Nature's Emporium in Newmarket and drives it over to the community fridge. She first heard about the fridge through the organization her daughers run, LIL BIG KID Squad, which does annual food drives for the Newmarket Food Pantry.
"I feel like I'm actually contributing to community every day just by doing that one delivery service. So for me personally, it's amazing," she said.
It is also a really simple way for people to donate food, she said, as you don't have to make an appointment at the pantry or collect an abundance of products, you simply can just drop off a couple of items whenever you have extras. It is also in an easily accessible area and open 24/7, so you can drop off whenever.
Like Murrary, Gorgonio has also been able to meet people at the fridge while she is doing her delivery.
"There's almost always at least one person waiting and shortly after I'm done, there's definitely three, four, five people daily just in the time that I'm there," she said. "It is heavily needed at this time."
Mitchell said that other volunteers have had similar experiences there and that is what compels some people to give.
"The fridge is kind of this hub right now where you have the ability to donate and actually meet the people that are benefiting from it. I know that a lot of people have felt impacted by that or after they donated, they walked away and they see a crowd of people at the fridge utilizing the food that they just donated and so they just wanted to be involved even more in the project," she said.
Local businesses have also been involved with the fridge. This fall, local business owners came together to start the Fill the Fridge challenge and encouraged other local businesses to collect food and donate it to the fridge.
On top of that, businesses like Nature's Emporium regularly give food or produce that would otherwise go to waste.
"It's amazing for the environment. It's amazing. We've made that community connection between a local grocery store and a need in the community and filling that hole," said Gorgonio.
John van Teunenbroek, owner of No Frills at Yonge Street and Davis Drive, committed from the launch of the fridge to fill it every week and continues to do so every Tuesday.
Despite the newness of the project and having to work out a few kinks, Mitchell said the community fridge project has been hugely successful.
"It's beyond our expectations. It's literally skyrocketed. It's very, very successful," she said.
Volunteers can sign up for a slot either cleaning or driving for the fridge online or by contacting Mitchell at [email protected]. You can also donate acceptable produce, sealed non-alcoholic beverages, packaged bread, frozen food, or other dry goods to the fridge at any time.
