Kitchen to community – the people cooking up kindness
KENSINGTON residents have set up kitchens and food banks to ensure people who need it most are being taken care of.
In a time where people across the UK are being forced into their homes to slow the spread of COVID-19, there are many vulnerable people in London’s poorer communities who are facing the brunt of these unprecedented times.
Melanie Wolfe is leading a team of volunteers who have transformed a local church into their cooking base to deliver food to key vulnerable groups in the borough.
Through the help of local charities like the Felix Project, who provide the kitchen with surplus food, Melanie and team have been able to reach the vulnerable elderly, homeless people and also excluded and neglected young people not on school registers.
The initiative, called the North Kensington Community Kitchen, is already set up to deliver over 300 meals this week.
Melanie said: “After speaking with food banks there were different provisions being put in place but it was clear that people who didn’t have facilities to cook or were unable to cook were not being supported and I was particularly concerned for vulnerable children.”
With a team of volunteers and chefs, including food campaigner, Danny McCubbin, who has previously worked with Jamie Oliver, cooking begins as early as 8am with food going across North Kensington from 1pm. Melanie tells us the kitchen have been working closely with alternative provision schools who cater to students who have been previously excluded. They deliver food directly to these students who would otherwise go hungry without school meals.
“We’re shining a light on a desperate need. For some students the meal they have at school is the only nutritious meal they get all day.
“Not all of the excluded children end up in alternative school provision. So they end up not part of any system and this is a big social issue.
The North Kensington Community Kitchen is desperately needed at the moment. With many of the community’s homeless kitchens and support groups shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, Melanie and her team have had to step in to cover the growing need.
Seeing the impact the kitchen is making, Melanie, who chairs the North Kensington Law Centre, is considering keeping the kitchen open after the lock down to support vulnerable students who need meals during the school term holidays. Melanie said:
“We have to encourage communities to look after their own vulnerable. We want people in other communities to set up their own kitchens. If this was replicated across the country, they’d be able to car to the most vulnerable.
“We have some people who are very ill , they can’t get out, they can’t cook. It’s no good someone who can hardly stand trying to cook for their kids. We need to support them.
“Our principle is simple: to help our neighbour. We’re serving nutrition and love through meals.”
To connect with Melanie and the North Kensington Community Kitchen you can reach them here.
About 20 minutes away in North Kensington, Rima, 50, is also using a local space to prepare meals for the most vulnerable and poorest in the community. Rima runs the Playground Theatre Café on Latimer Road.
Before COVID-19 turned the world upside down, The Playground Theatre would usually be bustling with theatre goers, however as the space now lays quiet because of the lock down, Rima took the decision to open up and cook meals for members of the community who need it most.
“It was really just practical thinking,” Rima said.
She added, “We have the kitchen here, its registered. I just love feeding people. Being aware of the big wealth divide: there’s serious food poverty in North Kensington which is surprising because you have wealthy neighbours on both sides.”
The project is completely donations led through Go Fund Me and also food donations that have been made. Rima, who’s lived in North Kensington all of her life said that the community is very interconnected and there’s a network of people who are all looking after each other.
“There’s a real community spirit here. Since Grenfell there’s been a lot of groups that have been set up. When this is over, we want people to remember there was unity and people helped each other.”