Summerside Community Fridge finding new ways to grow
Jill Power picked up a couple of cherry tomato plants from the Summerside Community Fridge on Saturday and hopes to return later in the summer with some of her bounty.
The free plants and seeds are a new initiative from the organizers of the community fridge project, a non-profit that provides free food to people in need. The food is generally provided by residents and businesses.
Power, who is an active gardener, hopes to have plenty leftover to donate.
"Obviously with the expense of food these days, and especially the expense of healthy food, I just think it's an opportunity for me to give back ... Hopefully when I have so much of it, it'll be nice to give it to people who need it instead of throwing it away."
The plants and seeds were donated by local businesses. Volunteers were handing them out at the Summerside Farmers' Market on Saturday.
Philip Turnbull, a board member with the Summerside Community Fridge, said it's an idea that can end up helping many people. He encourages all gardeners to think of the community fridge before they throw away any excess fruits and vegetables from their gardens.
"While we're doing all these small actions together it creates a big action," he said.
"For us, because we have the fridge aspect, we can take fresh produce. And so you know when you get that abundance of tomatoes, when you get that abundance of zucchini and you're like, 'What can I do with this?' Think of us."
More information on how to pick up any leftover plants or seeds will be posted to the Summerside Community Fridge Facebook page.
The Summerside Community Fridge is located in a wooden hut on the corner of Foundry and Granville streets. It opened in November, based on a similar model in Charlottetown.
It has not been without some struggles. Concerns were raised that some people were misusing the service by taking too many items, perhaps for resale. There was also a request from organizers to move the fridge to a new location.
In March, it was shut down for a month due to a fire.
The City of Summerside gave it $5,000 to get it back up and running.
Since its reopening in April, it has a board of directors in place and new hours — daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
