City Harvest delivers free surplus food to people across London facing food poverty
A child needs care and a healthy diet in order to thrive. The National Food Strategy and the Broken Plate will tell you that our children are suffering from malnutrition, leading to obesity and ill health. Cheap food lacks nutrients and a healthy diet is now a luxury for 1 in 4 children.
We align with the Food Foundation and are focused on providing data, food and sharing our experience of being the longest serving food redistribution charity in London to help forge systemic change.
We supply nutritious food to foodbanks, schools, community centres and holiday groups all of whom feed families and children. We work with like minded people creating healthy solutions in our current humanitarian crisis.
Access to Free Fruit & Veg is Keeping Families Going
City Speaks Up: First-hand reports from schools & community foodbanks, helping people access free food.
Free School Meals
#FEEDTHEFUTURE seeks a transformational policy shift that would provide free school meals to all children in Universal Credit households. This should be considered a first step toward a longer-term commitment to Universal Free School Meals. We are calling on the general public to take action.
Partnerships
Working to alleviate Holiday Hunger
Healthy and nutritious food is essential for child development, both physical and mental, and should be accessible to all.
News
Read about the children’s charities we support.
800K Children in Food Poverty Miss out on Free School Meals
North Kensington Community Kitchen, W11
“It’s a real issue, it’s a real problem. We’ve got a growing number of children who are not having a meal during the day. It may be that we need to extend Free School Meals to all children.”
Melanie reports that children living in poverty who don’t qualify for Free School Meals are turning up to school with empty lunchboxes. 800,000 children are falling through the system’s gaps, going the day without a meal.
School Food Banks in Demand
Parkfield Primary School, NW4
“We have seen the need rise, fast. We provide almost 100 ‘Community Boxes’ of free food & healthcare items a week to families facing food poverty in North West London.”
Parkfield Primary & the Hyde School, part of The Elliot Foundation Academies Trust, run weekly food distribution hubs to support families in need, including increasingly more refugee families residing in the local Holiday Inn.
Access to Free Fruit & Veg is Keeping Families Going
Elizabeth House Community Centre, N5
“From speaking to our residents, we know that people are stressed. They’re concerned about the Autumn, and so are we.”
The cost-of-living crisis has become a great source of anxiety for many, especially the families Elizabeth House supports weekly. Roshni, Community Coordinator, explains how Elizabeth House has become so much more than a food hub, but a real centre for residents to access support and community.
Supporting Children, Young People and Family News
ITV News: City Harvest supports school food banks to fight Holiday Hunger
ITV London reports on the demand for school food banks to feed their communities, especially during the school holidays. City Harvest food charity supports school food banks but has a large waitlist of people needing urgent help amidst the cost of living crisis.
City Harvest makes an impact with LEYF nurseries
City Harvest free food has been making an impact with LEYF nurseries across London, utilising surplus food to help support children from disadvantaged backgrounds with additional hours at nursery. These children are ineligible for the extra hours simply because their parents are either unemployed or on low incomes. LEYF, alongside City Harvest, is on a mission to provide equal opportunities to all children, giving them the step up they need in life through nutritious food and early years stimulation.
The Roehampton Community Box: helping families through the holidays
When expenses for families go up in the holidays, Roehampton Community Box supports with vital free food from City Harvest. Families rely on fresh ingredients to make meals go further in the school holidays.
Worshipful Company of Innholders Visits City Harvest
Past Master, Julia Sibley MBE from the Worshipful Company of Innholders tells us about her visit to City Harvest, Acton.Above: Julia of the Worshipful Company of Innholders stands with Livery Food Initiative van,...
Nourishing Children: Parkfield Primary School
City Harvest charity partner, Parkfield Primary School's Community Boxes have been life lines for families in need. #feedthefuture “We’re supposed to be here to teach children to read and write, aren’t we? But they...
Nourishing Children: Cyril Jackson Primary School
City Harvest food recipient, Cyril Jackson primary, feeds families and children in crisisHunger is now on the rampage. It marches ever closer, penetrating our communities and schools, even breaching the walls of our...