Fight against Food Poverty, Food Waste and Homelessness

Dear Friends and Family,

Whilst living in London for the past 3 years I’ve witnessed first-hand the essential role food-banks and soup kitchens play in helping vulnerable individuals. During my time here I’ve watched hundreds of homeless, vulnerable families and children queue for hours to receive a hot meal or left-over food rescued from supermarkets and the food industry.

For those who don’t know, Ive recently finished my university degree and am transitioning into the next chapter of my life. During this time of reflection, I’ve realised that I wouldn’t have accomplished this achievement if it wasn’t for the support of my friends and family along the way. Im immensely grateful for the continued support and I recognise more-than-ever that your support and help is a privilege that many who aren’t as fortunate don’t have.

Unfortunately, many people don’t have this privilege and struggle to provide themselves with basic-essential human needs such as shelter or food. In London alone, recent statistics estimate that over 385,000 people rely on food banks and soup kitchens to survive. Many of which are homeless thus have neither hot food or shelter. By simply helping to provide hot meals, and other food resources, we can help someone re-build their strength and health as a stepping-stone to supporting themselves, as well as help families with children that rely on food banks to supplement their groceries.

The number of people who rely on food donations for survival is dramatically increasing as the cost of living in London becomes more and more challenging every year. With this in mind, I’ve partnered with City Harvest, a charity based in London which works to provide food banks, soup kitchens and community cafe’s to those who need the support. Personally, I heavily resonate with City Harvest’s vision for all people to have access to nourishing food and their mission to reduce food insecurity and rescue edible food from the food industry that would otherwise go to waste. (More can be read about City harvest, here)

At this time, I’m asking my friends and family to help me raise donations for this incredible and impactful cause. Here are some amazing impacts a donation can make:

- £25 could provide 3 meals a-day to a family of 4 for an entire week!

- £50 could provide 200 hot meals for families, children and homeless at a soup kitchen!

- 1 hour of volunteering provides the Human Resources to produce an additional 530 meals!

With our support, Cit Harvest can continue to produce over 1.2 million meals per month to 375+ charities including children’s programmes, food banks, homeless shelters and refuges for women fleeing domestic violence and families fleeing war-torn countries.

As Ive previously mentioned, my recent transition has given me the opportunity to reflect on my personal circumstances. I’ve benefited from living in London and from the friends I’ve made here, and I believe that it’s important to give back to these communities and to the city. With this in mind, I want your help to raise as much as possible so that together we can continue to tackle homelessness, food waste and food-poverty!

In addition to donating money and food, I also pledge to volunteer 1 hour at a CityHarvest food bank or soup kitchen for every £20 raised in total, (i.e. £100 = 5 hours, or, £1000 = 50 hours ). As well as this, every donor will automatically be entered into a draw to win a hamper of London goodies, to be announced in due course.

I hope you can understand the importance I see in this cause. Any contribution no matter how small will make a difference. Thank you all SO much for your continued support. This means so much to me, City Harvest and to the all people we’ll help! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or queries.

Owen :)