Arriva Rail & TfL Overground support London-wide food drive for City Harvest Festival
1 in 4 London households can’t afford to eat. To help address shocking levels of food poverty in London, food charity City Harvest ran its annual City Harvest Festival food and fundraising drive to help alleviate pressure for those who can’t access good food this autumn. City Harvest Festival, as a campaign, unites London communities to help those less fortunate, embodying the true spirit of Harvest Festival.
Acton-based City Harvest’s local London Overground station, Acton Central, celebrated City Harvest Festival this October, with a food drive activation at the station, and a fundraising appeal across neighbouring London Overground stations; Willesden Junction and South Acton.
City Harvest Festival, as a whole, raised over 8 tonnes of food to be redistributed to community partners feeding those facing food poverty. The team at Acton Central are passionate about supporting those in need of free food and collected enough food from staff and the public for 250 meals for those without.
Arriva Rail: taking action on food poverty in the local community
Members of the team, David Cranstoun and Pauline Lawler championed the food drive after visiting their local food charity, City Harvest, and becoming aware of rising food poverty in London.
Seeing the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on his local area, David wanted to do something to help. The Acton Central team concluded their contribution of over 100kg long-shelf-life food, by volunteering in our Acton HQ:
“We visited City Harvest and were so impressed with the facilities there and what they do, that we wanted to do it at our station.” Pauline Lawler, Station Delivery Manager, London Overground
“I’m a local member of a Methodist church, and every time there is an event about distributing food, you see a long list of people coming to take food. That really shows that there’s a lot of poverty in London, the queue is long enough to tell you: “Yes, people are suffering”.” David Cranstoun, Customer Host, London Overground
Read about Arriva Rail’s contribution in Ealing Times here.
Host a City Harvest Food Drive
You can host a food drive at any time of the year to help feed Londoners in need! If you’d like to host a food drive this Christmas, let us know. We’d be delighted to share some co-branded marketing material with you to support your event and will happily arrange a collection at your convenience.
