Londons three biggest food redistribution charities have partnered to provide an emergency response service for the capital during this most unprecedented time of War and the increases in cost of living expenses. City Harvest, FareShare and The Felix Project, which access and divert food to vulnerable people across the city, have formed the London Food Alliance and will be delivering food to new London Borough Network hubs.

The London Borough Networks are working to establish hubs to distribute food to people in local communities across London. This model will connect charities with essential services and will work to identify the most vulnerable people in the area, so that no Londoner is left behind.

The charities estimate that £250,000 of donations is needed to help fund operational costs and transportation of food and help them reach as many vulnerable people as possible.

The charities have divided coordination for borough hubs between them, but they will all be distributing food across the city as it is needed

The food supply will come from surplus stock, donated by wholesalers, manufacturers, restaurants, supermarkets and other businesses. There is enough of this food to feed all of London with 1.9 million tonnes of avoidable food waste generated by the UK food industry each year

Teams will be in contact daily to coordinate where food goes - subject to factors such as supply available, delivery routes and what is deemed most efficient and effective

Every tonne of food waste ending in landfill produces approximately 4.2 tonnes of greenhouse gases which means that, by redistributing this food to some of the most vulnerable people in our capital, the Alliance will be helping to save the planet as well

In the UK, more than 14 million people are living in poverty including 4.5 million children. We support more than 1,200 food bank centres in the UK to provide a minimum of three days nutritionally-balanced emergency food to people who have been referred in crisis, as well as support to help people resolve the crises they face. Between April 2019 and March 2020, food banks in our network provided a record 1.9 million food supplies to people in crisis, an 18% increase on the previous year and during the coronavirus pandemic food banks have seen need rise even further. You can find out more about the impact of our work during the pandemic in our latest report.

We know it takes more than food to end hunger, and we know our goal to end the need for food banks is ambitious, but by working Together for Change, we believe it is achievable.