A food charity that helps to feed more than 11,000 people in the borough every week is celebrating its 10-year anniversary.

City Harvest, based in Acton, was founded in 2014 by a small group of people, who came together to address food waste and food poverty in the capital, forming London’s first food redistribution charity.

In its first year it delivered 80,000 meals. A decade later, it has delivered almost 70million meals.

And, as the festive season approaches, it will be working harder than ever to make sure residents have access to fresh food by delivering tons of produce to 35 community projects across the borough. This includes food banks, soup kitchens, supported accommodation, schools, nurseries and more.

Sarah Calcutt, the charity’s chief executive, told Around Ealing: “We look after the community groups that look after your readers.”

Relying on donations

Ealing Soup Kitchen, which is supported by Ealing Council, is one of the organisations that benefits from City Harvest’s donations.

Angela Doreen, the soup kitchen’s coordinator and one of the council’s community champions, said: “We rely heavily on donations and its thanks to the generosity of donors, and the work of organisations like City Harvest, that we can help people who can’t afford to eat.”

How it all works

City Harvest has dedicated drivers for each London borough it serves. They deliver the crates of food that is donated from organisations, such as supermarkets that find they have surplus stock that will otherwise go to waste, and even local allotment associations. This is then picked and packed by a team of wonderful volunteers in the warehouse who, between them, have racked up thousands of volunteering hours to help put food on people’s plates.

‘Our volunteers are golden’

Sarah Calcutt said: “It’s really easy to volunteer here. We believe volunteering should be accessible and flexible, so we have a system which offers different sessions to choose from throughout the week, Monday to Sunday. Shifts range from 2 to 4 hours, and you can pick times that suit you.

“We currently have over 1,700 volunteers on our register, around 600 of whom have been volunteering regularly within the last 3 months. Our volunteers are golden.”

Sarah added: “We help to feed 130,000 people every week. That has doubled in 26 months.

“The fastest growing group that we look after are the working poor. They’ve got a regular job. There’s a regular wage coming in, but it doesn’t cover the cost of living. There’s a  rising tide of parents who just aren’t eating enough because they are making that parental sacrifice and feeding their children before themselves. And that group’s really suffering.”

Be a volunteer

For every hour volunteered, City Harvest is able to deliver enough food for 530 meals.

Sarah added: “A number of our volunteers have found great friends by spending time here; they often go out for a coffee and socialise – it’s a place to connect with others too. And we’re always looking to welcome more helping hands.”