City Harvest – Providing Food to Londoners in Need

At the end of last year, London Freemasons’ Charity awarded a grant of £10,000 to City Harvest to deliver tens of thousands of meals to people facing hunger across London. 

The support has been invaluable in helping to feed people in need, often living in some of the most deprived areas of the capital, whilst also helping to reduce food waste and thereby benefiting the environment.  Over the year, demand for food was high due to the cost-of-living crisis, but the grant has helped the charity to meet this extra demand. 

With your kind generosity, the LFC grant enabled City Harvest to deliver an astonishing 40,000 meals to charities across London, providing food worth £80,000 to their 375 charity partners which, in turn, are able to spend these funds on their vital services.  In addition, approximately 42 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions have been prevented.

City Harvest’s vans deliver food across the capital seven days a week from their 13,000 square foot warehouse in Acton, which redistributes over 120 tonnes of surplus food weekly.

Many of those people supported by the charity’s partner organisations are at risk of hunger and malnutrition and, in many cases, social isolation.  Some are homeless and rough sleepers, or families from socio-economically disadvantaged households.  Other recipients are women escaping domestic violence or trafficking, and people with mental health or addition issues.  The charity’s partner organizations also support various children’s programmes, refugees, asylum seekers and older people experiencing loneliness and isolation. 

 

“I had been meaning to write to you for some time now to express our appreciation of your delivery drivers, who have been making deliveries to us each Tuesday come rain, snow, wind or whatever for over two years.  We know we can rely on them to cheerfully unload the supplies we use to prepare food parcels for our local communities experiencing hardship and food poverty.  We are truly grateful for their outstanding dedication and sheer hard work.” 

Jacquie, Centre Manager, Edward Woods Community Centre

City Harvest places emphasis on providing healthy, nutritious food.  According to the Food Foundaton, 37% of households reported that rising living costs prevented them from being able to afford healthy food, rising to 53% in lower income groups.  At the height of the cost of living crisis, 24.4% of households with children were experiencing food insecurity, with more and more families turning to food charities and food banks.  Unfortunately, poor nutrition can have a devasting impact on long-term health, particularly for children, so the charity strives to make sure their partners receive fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish instead of relying on tinned and packaged goods.  Indeed, over the last year, 50% of food provided by City Harvest was fresh fruit and vegetables.     

The 375 charity organisations that City Harvest deliver to are mostly small, local charities in communities across the Greater London area, and many of these groups have struggled to provide enough food to support those in need.  As City Harvest says: “Our 375 partner charities are needing more and more food, and new charities are calling us every day asking to be added to our list.  To meet this need, we need to deliver more food to more people in need over the next 12 months.”

The LFC grant supported City Harvest at a time of great development for the charity, when it carried out improvements to its warehouse, increasing its capacity by 2,320 square feet by installing a mezzanine floor and additional racking; this allows the charity to make better use of the vertical space and store more ambient food, providing an additional storage capacity for 50,000 meals and thereby delivering a further 200,000 meals per month. 

City Harvest says, “We wish to thank the London Freemasons’ Charity for your generous support.  Thanks to you, children whose families can’t afford food ate nourishing dinners rather than skipping meals.  Elderly people, isolated in their homes, ate a meal with others in community centres.  People who are homeless were welcomed to charities with three course delicious and nutritious meals.  From everyone at City Harvest, a heartfelt thank you.”

Support City Harvest through The Big Give

From 3rd-10th December, City Harvest is holding its annual campaign for The Big Give Christmas Challenge: “Feed a Child, Feed a Future”. For one week only, every penny donated to their campaign page will be doubled by the charity’s generous match funders.

We would be grateful if you could support the charity in reaching its ambitious fundraising target of £200,000. Any donation made to the Feed a Child, Feed a Future Big Give Campaign Page from 3rd-10th December will be doubled. This means that every £1 donated becomes £2, and will provide 8 meals for children in need!

Please consider donating to the campaign, and share it as much as possible with your professional and personal networks by speaking to friends, families and work contacts, or promoting it on your social media.

To double the donation, it must be made via the link below between noon on December 3rd and noon on December 10th.

Feed a Child, Feed a Future Big Give Campaign Page



This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 56 Winter 2024 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 56 here.