Giving families a helping hand with City Harvest food
“City Harvest is the reason we can expand our service to another day. We used to open just one day a week, but now we can get free food to an extra 60 families. It makes such a difference.”
When expenses for families go up in the school holidays, Roehampton Community Box supports with vital free food from City Harvest. Families rely on fresh ingredients from City Harvest to make meals go further in the school holidays.
The Roehampton Community Box was launched in March 2020 by south-west London charity Rackets Cubed in response to COVID and the food crisis it created.
To address worryingly high levels of child food poverty, the community box project originally operated through local schools and nurseries. Now, anyone who needs support can self-refer. The project has evolved into a social supermarket-style hub where families can select the items that they need. The volunteer team at The Roehampton Community Box explains the demand the project experiences and the value of City Harvest’s food deliveries.
“We’re distributing food to about 560 people a week. A large proportion of who we help are single mums who have to prioritise bills and rent over their groceries. Expenses go up when kids are at home all summer, and so does the demand for our food distribution service.”
“Our beneficiaries tell us that they wouldn’t survive without us”
“Fresh ingredients that go further in a batch-cook are always needed by the families with kids we support over the holidays”
“We’ve got a qualified nutritionist who writes up recipes to share with our clients. This is especially useful when we receive lots of one ingredient, or when families aren’t sure what to do with an unfamiliar ingredient. It’s also a way to inspire economical cooking and how to get the most out of these ingredients.”
“Our families appreciate the quality of the fresh produce City Harvest provide. It’s getting really expensive for them to buy fresh ingredients in the supermarkets.”
“The social supermarket has been working well for our beneficiaries as they pay a small amount for about £40 of groceries. It means they have more disposable income to get other bits they need from the supermarket, like personal care items.”
‘Vandy Murray’ delivers impact to Wimbledon and beyond. Read More.
Launched this year, ‘Vandy Murray’ delivers free food for over 30,000 meals a month, to charities in south-west London, including to the Roehampton Community Box.
City Harvest x The Wimbledon Foundation
Working together to rescue food, people and the planet since 2018. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the AELTC opened its kitchens to cook meals for City Harvest to deliver to communities across London. Read the more about the partnership here.
Your support = so much.
Learn about how you can support City Harvest by speaking with our fundraising team.
