Petrolia’s Community Refrigerator is stocked an open for use.

St. Paul’s United Church is spearheading the effort.

Larry Leckie says a company in Toronto donated a 12 foot long refrigerated truck to use for the winter months. The church and members of the community will stock the unit with food. Originally, the plan was to allow anyone to step inside at any time of the day to take what they needed.

But Leckie says there were some concerns by the supporters of the project that vandalism may occur in the early hours of the morning, so now the Community Refrigerator is open from 8 am to 8 pm.

Leckie is hopeful the site will compliment the services already in town, including the Petrolia Food Bank which provides food boxes for families once every three weeks throughout the year and special Christmas hampers at Christmas time. The refrigerator will provide staples like bread, milk and eggs when people need them.

Leckie says the fridge has only been open a few days and it is already seen use. He estimates between six and 10 people per day are coming in to pick up something to eat.
Leckie expects as word of the programs spreads, the use will continue to expand.

And while the project provides food to those in need, Leckie says it also provides a place to safely use and distribute some of the food which normally would be thrown out. More than 50 per cent of Canada’s food is wasted, he added.