Community Fridge KW launches new project

At a time when food insecurity has become a popular discussion, Community Fridge KW (CFKW) has started a new project, that is in line with the community fridge itself. 

CFKW is a grassroots organization started in 2020, which seeks to establish and maintain public repositories of fresh donated food and essential items.

Organizer with CFKW Kamil Ahmed explained to CityNews 570 what Community Powered Urban Agriculture is all about.

He said many members of the community want to grow for themselves.

“Specifically in the downtown core, there is an identified lack of green space and identified lack of communal gardening space that's free and accessible. We wanted to participate in building neighbours' capacity and access to food sovereignty. So, being able to grow food for themselves, knowing the skills and knowing the know-how of working with the land, having support and mentorship available through that relationship, and then being able to access and harvest food that they can use and share with community members.”

In a tweet, CFKW called for vegetable and herb seedlings and seeds, people who are looking to access green space in downtown Kitchener as well as growers with experience to help others who are looking to learn. They're also searching for volunteers interested in daily care of food crops.

Ahmed shared that plans of expanding CFKW have actually been in the works for a long time now.

“I had planted the seeds almost eight months ago that that we'd be interested in sort of building off of the community fridge to create a more circular feedback loop for food, the fridge acts as a source that food can be donated to. Can we work on a project that allows folks to grow food that could also then make its way to the fridge as well as other neighbours?”

One of the locations will be where the fridge is located. People will be growing on the upper piazza of the Kitchener Market.

“Folks who use the Kitchener Market regularly will know that that's a very animated and very high-visibility area that gets a lot of foot traffic, whether it's market day, or it's just another day when the upstairs food hall is open.”

Ahmed wants the project to also be an avenue for people with common interests in growing food to meet and engage with each other. After all, “community” is the first word in the organization's name

To join, it's as simple as sending an e-mail. Ahmed asked that anyone who is interested in accessing green space and getting their hands dirty to grow food to reach out. 

“This is going to be nothing without you, so we'd love for it to be with you.”