A Dundee charity’s post-pandemic future has been secured with the award of almost £200,000 of Scottish Government grant funding.
The Gate Church Carbon Saving Project, which runs the West End Community Fridge, landed the six-figure support through the Climate Challenge Fund.
The community fridge is continuing to operate through lockdown, with the charity extending its reach through online initiatives.
Its carbon-saving project is aimed at making the Gate the ‘greenest church in Scotland”.
Project co-ordinator Lynsey Penny said: “We are delighted to have received another two years’ funding from the Climate Challenge Fund, allowing us to continue to expand our activities across the city at such an important time for the climate movement.
“There is such a lot of concern both locally and nationally about the climate and ecological emergency and we hope to show our community how easy it is to make small changes so they too can make a difference.
“While the community fridge may be seen as the flagship of the project and has remained open throughout the current lockdown, handing out free food to between 80 and 100 people per day, the project is continuing to help the people of Dundee adopt a low carbon lifestyle in other ways through an online offering.”
The project’s blog has been providing tips and advice on gardening, cooking, upcycling, re-purposing and generally saving money.
The community fridge attracted global interest after drawing more than 1,000 visitors within 18 months of opening, with foodsharing activists from Japan arriving in the city to learn more about the initiative.
The Dundee scheme proved such a success it was redistributing around a tonne of food a week, compared to the average of a tonne a month for similar ventures.
Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, providing funding and support to help community-led groups tackle climate change through projects that reduce local carbon emissions.
Alastair Seaman, climate change manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful said: “Projects supported by the Climate Challenge Fund are providing vital assistance for their communities during the Covid-19 crisis, while also helping to tackle the climate emergency.
“The Gate Church Carbon Saving project is a fantastic example with their West End Community Fridge helping to ensure that surplus supermarket food is made available for free.”
More than 1,150 projects across Scotland’s 32 local authorities have been awarded CCF grants for activities involving energy efficiency, sustainable travel, local food and resource efficiency.
Total CCF funding since 2008 has exceeded £111 million.
