• Fresh, washed produce
• Dry goods
• Prepackaged breads and pastries
• Meals prepared in public health-inspected kitchens, labelled with ingredient list, location prepared, and date prepared or best-before date
• Frozen foods
• New personal care items for the pantry

All items must have visible best-before dates and ingredient lists and be unopened and unused. Donors who are interested in donating pasteurized dairy, dairy products, or Grade A eggs must email communityfridge@innisfil.ca.

• Meat or seafood, even frozen
• Cracked eggs or eggs that are below Grade A, domestic, or ungraded
• Homemade food
• Expired food
• Dented cans
• Mouldy produce
• Opened prepackaged goods
• Alcohol

If you wouldn’t eat it, feed it to your compost—not your neighbours!

A community fridge is a public repository of fresh, donated foods that anyone can take from for free. Community fridges are designed to facilitate access to nutritious foods and reduce food waste.

Food insecurity happens when people/households do not have enough money to buy food. In February 2023, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported that 1 in 8 Simcoe Muskoka households are food insecure. Learn more about reducing household food insecurity from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and how you can take action.

Learn more about the history of the Troy Scott Community Fridge project.

How the project started

In June 2021, the Town started the Innisfil Community Fridge pilot program. The first fridge was placed outside the Innisfil Recreational Complex. 

The goal was to make healthy food easy to access and to reduce the stigma sometimes connected to food support programs.

Honouring Troy Scott

In October 2021, the project was renamed the Troy Scott Community Fridges in memory of Troy Scott—an Innisfil resident, business owner, and community builder.

Troy was known for his generosity, kindness, and dedication to helping others. The community fridges continue his legacy by supporting neighbours across Innisfil.

More fridge locations

In 2022, two more community fridges and pantries opened at the Lakeshore and Cookstown branches of the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library.

These locations make it easier for more residents to access fresh and nutritious food.

The food and other donation items, temperature, and cleanliness of the Troy Scott Community Fridges are regularly monitored. They are cleaned regularly, and expired and unacceptable donations are removed. To further support food safety, donation guidelines must be followed. If you have questions or concerns, please email communityfridge@innisfil.ca.

Locations may be monitored by staff or video surveillance. 

When a power outage causes disruption in refrigeration, the Town of Innisfil will post a warning notice on the fridge. All perishable foods will be discarded and the fridge will be properly sanitized before it reopens for public use.

We remind residents that food exposed to unsafe temperatures during a power outage can cause foodborne illness. To protect yourself and others, please do not consume or donate perishable foods to the Troy Scott Community Fridge until it is confirmed that refrigeration has been consistently restored.

For full guidelines on what to do with food after a power outage, visit Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s website or contact Health Connection at 1-877-721-7520 Ext. 8811.

Please email communityfridge@innisfil.ca to report it. If you can, include a photo.

Yes. Please wash all homegrown produce before donating to the Troy Scott Community Fridges. This helps the fridges stay clean and tidy.

No. Only meals prepared in health unit inspected and approved kitchens (or grocery stores) can be donated to the Troy Scott Community Fridges. This ensures proper food handling was followed and reduces the risk of food borne illness. These meals must be labelled with ingredients, name of the kitchen it was prepared in, and date prepared. 

You can make a one-time or recurring financial donation to the Troy Scott Community Fridges:

1. Online. This is an easy way to make a one-time or recurring donation. Donors can receive a donation receipt directly through the website
2. In-person at the Town Hall Customer Service desk (2101 Innisfil Beach Rd.)
3. By sending a cheque made out to The Town of Innisfil to: The Town of Innisfil, 2101 Innisfil Beach Rd., Innisfil, ON L9S 1A1

The Town of Innisfil can issue official donation receipts to individuals or organizations that made the donation. We cannot issue an official donation receipt in the name of anyone but the true donor. This means, if you’re collecting cash from individuals to donate to the Troy Scott Community Fridges, the Town can only issue official donation receipts to the individuals who made the donations. To do this, individuals and organizations should ask donors if they want a donation receipt, and if so, collect their name, address, and donation amount and submit this to the Town with the financial donation.

Financial donations are used to purchase food and other items for the Troy Scott Community Fridges when they’re low and to purchase materials for the Town’s Health & Wellness programs that prepare meals for the Troy Scott Community Fridges.