Over 200 residents received over 700kg of groceries at our recent winter market at the Liverpool Road community centre, Islington, on December 30.
Food Project Coordinator, Amy Washbrook organised the event in connection with The Felix Project and HACT and was supported on the day by other Southern Housing colleagues and local residents. The event was more than just giving out free food and carried a Christmassy feel with music playing, hot drinks flowing, snacks, a warm space and a kid’s corner.
Speaking to one of our volunteers at the event, one of our residents said, “I was a bit nervous about coming but received a big warm welcome and it has made a huge difference to my family as January can feel like a long month. I hope we can have this event next year and I would be happy to help out.”
Another resident explained how they came for the food but stayed for the chance to catch up with neighbours. “It is amazing to see everyone get together and it has been years since we had something like this. It has been nice catching up with old neighbours and meeting new people and I hope we get to do more events like these.”
Touching on the event, Amy said, “This period is a challenging time in the food insecurity sector. Most community food projects close, leaving people without food provision whilst supermarkets throw away tonnes and tonnes of food.”
“Its great to prevent food waste and see this redistributed to people who may struggle to otherwise afford it. We are immensely grateful to The Felix Project for their huge amounts of work in making this possible, and to HACT who were instrumental in organising these winter food markets.”
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