Help the Hungry: More than 1 million meals delivered to vulnerable Londoners since lockdown began

‘We feel as though we’re making a small difference twice over’, says Oso Foundation trustee Karen Jenkel

Helping hand: proprietor of The Independent Evgeny Lebedev delivers 600 meals to Great Ormond Street staff with other Felix volunteers (Hannah Harley Young)

The Felix Project, our Help The Hungry appeal partner in London, has quadrupled its supply of food to vulnerable Londoners to 42 tonnes – the equivalent of 100,000 meals a day. In the four weeks since lockdown, they have delivered 565 tonnes – a staggering 1.35 million meals.

This extraordinary humanitarian effort – carried out with 22 delivery vans manned by a small army of volunteers – comes in the wake of rising food poverty and worrying new research on unemployment.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex estimated at the weekend that at least 6.5 million jobs could be lost, a fifth of the national total, with the duration of the lockdown being critical as to whether job losses will be short-lived.

It comes on top of a YouGov poll for The Food Foundation revealing that 8 million people in Britain face food insecurity and that 3 million have already experienced hunger.

As Felix scrambles to respond to the deepening distress with no government support, donations to our campaign, in conjunction with sister title the Evening Standard, are crucial to fund their fast-expanding operation.

Today we can report a hugely generous donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation, who agreed to an emergency grant of £500,000 to be shared equally between The Felix Project and FareShare, London’s two biggest food surplus distributors, for their work supporting the most vulnerable families in the wake of the coronavirus.

Philippa Charles, director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “Alongside significant grants to the National Emergency Trust among others, our trustees are keen to ensure that those most vulnerable and affected by this crisis receive the immediate support they need. We are delighted to support this partnership between two effective charities with which we have had long-standing relationships.”

Another donor to our appeal, which is approaching £2m, was the Oso Foundation, whose trustee Karen Jankel, said: “Doing the weekly grocery shop may have its challenges for most of us, but at least we can afford to put food on the table. The ethos behind The Felix Project appeals to us as we hate the idea of waste and so by giving them our donation, we feel as though we’re making a small difference twice over.”

On Friday, Felix delivered 16 truckloads of nutritious food to community hubs in eight boroughs –​ Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – and a further 26 truckloads to 75 charities, schools and holiday clubs. All in all, this is the daily equivalent tonnage of three-and-a-half double-decker Routemaster buses.

With more borough hubs set to come on stream in the coming days, demand for their services is set to rise yet further.

The Independent is encouraging readers to help groups that are trying to feed the hungry across the country – find out how you can help here. Follow this link to donate to our campaign in London, in partnership with the Evening Standard.