Helped by a £10,000 grant from the City of London, a consortium of local charities and community organisations is this week launching a project to feed vulnerable Enfield families over the summer. The consortium is looking for more volunteers to help in food distribution - a couple of hours a week is all it need take.
Since the start of lockdown a tremendous volunteer effort has gone into stopping Enfield families going hungry, thanks to local organisations like Cooking Champions, the North Enfield Foodbank, the Felix Project and, of course, the amazing Love Your Doorstep, which, under the leadership of Emma Rigby, has been coordinating the whole project. The Love Your Doorstep Consortium that was set up in response to the Covid-19 emergency involves more than forty local charities and community organisations.
The achievement so far has been hugely impressive, but this week the operation goes into overdrive. With the support of the Enfield Town Schools’ Partnership, the Consortium has been awarded a £10,000 grant from the London Community Response Fund, which will be used to launch the "Feed Enfield" Summer Food Project, providing 1600 meals a week. And if you can spare some time, they will be more than happy to have you along.
Could you spare an hour or two a week?
Could you spare an hour or two a week to help out at one of the six food distribution hubs that the consortium has set up? Or help transport the meals to the hubs from the Millfield Theatre, where Cooking Champions have taken over the kitchen and will be producing more than 1600 hot meals a week?
If you could, please fill in this online form:
https://forms.gle/k9hgSUkd1Umx8TiA9.
Thank you in advance, this work gets you right into the heart of our community and helps get Enfield back on track.
The London Community Response Fund is administered by the City Bridge Trust, the City of London Corporation’s charity funder. Its chairman, Dhruv Patel, has warm words for the work being done by the consortium:
“The Love Your Doorstep scheme, supported by Enfield Town Schools’ Partnership, is doing fantastic work on the frontline of the pandemic, providing invaluable support to vulnerable and disadvantaged residents, NHS and care workers across Enfield.
“We are all too aware of the incredibly difficult situation that community and voluntary organisations are facing in the current climate and we’re delighted funding from the London Community Response will enable this vital work to continue.”
The grant will fund core staffing and running costs to enable Love Your Doorstep to adapt its usual business and extend its co-ordinated delivery of support for a further three months.
Cooking Champions set a new record
Cooking Champions, now operating from the Millfield Theatre, last week set a new record for the number of meals produced
The coronavirus pandemic has led to a change of focus and big increase in output for Cooking Champions, which was founded by Palmers Green resident Clare Donovan. From supplying around 50 meals a week for the homeless, the group's volunteers are now preparing and delivering more than 1600 meals a week - and last week they increased their output to 1,876.
Clare explains the philosophy behind Cooking Champions:
“We are committed to providing fresh, nutritious meals, made with care by our volunteers to children on free school meals and vulnerable families, something that seems to have been sadly lacking from government care packages.
“Providing vouchers isn’t enough – we need to be ensuring children have a balanced, varied diet. As a Community Interest Company, we need funding now more than ever so that we can fulfil that promise. Children really shouldn’t be in this position in 2020.”
Emma Kolaru from Enfield Town Schools’ Partnership, which submitted the successful funding bid, says that those hit hardest by the pandemic have been vulnerable children and adults, the elderly and the homeless, but there has also been a positive side:
“We have also witnessed the extraordinary response within our community from volunteers, key workers and charities and organisations in the public and private sector who have supported everyone through these challenging times.
“This united response has strengthened partnerships between these sectors and support has been made available faster and has been more effective.”
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