Our Food for London Now appeal hits £7.5million and delivers 5.6million meals
HOUSE OF LORDS CRITICISES GOVERNMENT FOR ‘DITHERING INACTION’ ON FOOD POVERTY THREE-QUARTERS OF THE WAY TO OUR £10 MILLION TARGET
OUR Food For London Now appeal today passed the £7.5 million mark, enabling our appeal partner, The Felix Project, to deliver the equivalent of 5.6 million meals to vulnerable Londoners since the beginning of lockdown.
The new milestone, which takes us three-quarters of the way to our £10 million target, includes £150,000 received by Felix from the Government as part of its post-Covid food poverty funding package.
This comprises £100,000 from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and £50,000 via the government-backed food waste charity Wrap. The second and third largest surplus food distributors in London after Felix, namely FareShare and City Harvest, were also awarded funding of £10.9 million and £48,500 respectively. Government funding amounts to just two per cent of the total we have raised since we launched our campaign on March 27.
Earlier this week, a damning report by the House of Lords select committee on poverty and food heavily criticised the Government for not doing enough to help the vulnerable, including children, get access to healthy food.
Lord Krebs, chairman of the committee, told the Standard: “We are calling on the Government to stop dithering and act now to ensure that the poorest people are able to eat a healthy diet.
“The UK has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in Europe, and food bank use has shot up by 81 per cent since the Covid-19 epidemic. Government inaction is condemning many children to a life of ill health, costing the NHS billions.”
His committee called on the Government to “start to measure how many people live with food insecurity and analyse why” and to “ensure that food initiatives for disadvantaged children are properly funded”.
Mark Curtin, chief executive of The Felix Project, said food deliveries from Felix to the vulnerable has continued to rise, even as lockdown has eased.
“Our largest daily total was 54 tonnes on June 30, up from an average of 20 tonnes a day last year, and our largest week was the last week of June when we supplied over 200 tonnes. The total for last month was 800 tonnes, the equivalent of 1.9 million meals.”
He said the funding raised by our appeal had been fundamental to their ability to operate at scale. In total, of the £7.5 million raised, £3.3 million has come from UK corporations, £1.2 million from trusts and foundations, £1.6 million from artists, including Damien Hirst, £1.25 million from more than 1,000 major donors and individual members of the
I am in awe of the coalition backing our campaign: but ever more are hungry, ever more need our help Evgeny Lebedev
public and £150,000 from the Government. The Evening Standard’s proprietor Evgeny Lebedev said: “I am in awe of the diverse coalition of individuals and companies that have come together to back our campaign and take us three-quarters of the way to fulfilling our goal. But ever more people are hungry — ever more need our help. We are determined to finish this.”
On Defra funding, Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “The Felix Project has been doing brilliant work amid a significant increase in demand over the past few months. It is vital they have the resources they need.”
Peter Maddox, director of Wrap, said: “The Felix Project is making a huge difference to thousands of Londoners. We are delighted to award the charity £50,000 through our Covid-19 emergency food grant to help with costs to support work in its depots and additional temporary staff.” A substantial private donor, Lexington Partners, said: “Our staff selected The Felix Project for its mission to combat hunger by redistributing surplus food to vulnerable people in London communities.”