City Harvest delivers 50 million meals to Londoners in need
City Harvest has delivered 50 million meals to Londoners in need since the charity’s inception, which equals 21,000 tonnes of surplus food.
At a time when the government is calling on the food industry to prevent waste and the government is being lobbied to provide free school meals due to food poverty, City Harvest’s mission is a bright light for 1 in 4 people unable to feed their families.
City Harvest CEO, Sarah Calcutt, says, “Thank you, everyone who has supported, donated, and volunteered to make this milestone possible. Delivering 50 million meals is an incredible achievement. The food industry is experiencing great change, and it is testament to the acknowledgment by the British food and farming industry that great things can be achieved by the sharing of waste and surplus food. A donation of food equals so much more than great nutrition on a plate. We are equally proud of the environmental benefits and additional support that our charity partners can deliver that help improve people’s lives.”
Our drivers deliver free food and hope to our London community partners. Watch a short video about them here.
City Harvest is the capital’s original food redistribution charity, part of the fabric of London. Iconic vans weave across the capital delivering free food and hope for a better tomorrow to 375+ community partners. In 2014, the founders saw that tonnes of edible food industry waste were being directed to landfill, while at the same time, hundreds of thousands of people were missing meals. The solution was clear: to redistribute surplus food to those who need it the most.
City Harvest’s 19-strong fleet now rescues food from across the UK food supply chain, and delivers it, for free, to a network of Greater London charities feeding their communities. Food banks, hostels, soup kitchens, homeless, women’s refuges, family centres, community centres, socially isolated and vulnerable people.
Mary Parsons, Head of Food says, “City Harvest Festival is our next big food drive and we are asking all companies, school and organisations who want to get involved and do a food collection – sign up at www.cityharvest.org.uk/harvest-festival – it’s such an easy way to do your bit in the workplace or at school and give back to others less fortunate.
We’re so grateful to all our donors who have supported us over the years by donating their surplus food and we couldn’t have achieved this milestone without them. We pride ourselves on strong relationships with our donors and making it as quick and easy as possible to send food into our depots. With the help of our amazing team of staff and volunteers, we make sure it goes to the people who need it most.”
City Harvest rescues food, people and the planet
City Harvest is grateful for support from food partners across the UK food supply chain and our London community partners who all form an integral part of our mission.
“City Harvest has been a great help for our foodbank, especially over the summer holidays by providing much-needed food to the children and families at our school.Without your tremendous support, many of the children who study at our school would not have had meals over the summer break. Our awesome driver is always pleasant and has been wonderful in helping me unload the van. He goes the extra mile as he knows what our families’ needs are.”
Rabia Cornelius, Family Support Worker
“Knowing that since we started working with City Harvest in 2018, we’ve donated over 600,000 meals to people that need them really, really fills us with joy. Being able to distribute our food quickly, to the people that need it, is extremely valuable for Wholegood. We’re a business that really believes in purpose. So, even at the point where we’ve got produce, we can no longer sell, we know it goes to people that need it.”
Carl Saxton-Pizzie, Founder & CGO
“We don’t have the distribution network to divert our unavoidable food waste, so working with charities like City Harvest means that they can go out and reach the people who need it most instead, and we have the full confidence that it’s going to right place. Equally for our team, it’s really inspiring for them – they don’t want to be binning food in our depots. Seeing charities like City Harvest turn up for collection at the depots every week is really empowering for them too.”
Emily Pinkney, GB Sustainability Manager
City Harvest Festival
Join our food and fundraising drive this Harvest Festival & help City Harvest tackle food poverty.
