Canary Wharf Group has partnered with food redistribution charity the Felix Project to launch an initiative tackling food poverty in the capital.
The Canary Wharf Green Scheme, which is launching this week, aims to recruit 1,500 volunteers to provide more than 1,000 meals each week, through around 10 different local community organisations, saving more than 500kg of food from going to waste.
Charlotte Hill, chief executive of the Felix Project, said: “In the UK, 4.7m people are struggling with the cost of food. This is an issue we cannot afford to ignore, and the situation is critical as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies. Many Londoners are trying to feed themselves on less than £3 a day.”
The initiative will combine the Felix Project’s four London depots, including one close to Canary Wharf, and involves volunteers from the Canary Wharf Group estate delivering surplus food from retailers directly to local charities, schools and community organisations.
Retailers on the estate, which includes around 70 cafés, bars and restaurants, that have already signed up to the scheme include M&S, Joe Blake’s and Waitrose.
As part of the deal, the estate will provide access to its businesses, workers and residents, while also providing facilities, logistics assistance and support in the form of volunteering and fundraising drives, in a bid deliver long-term, sustainable social impact.
Hill said Canary Wharf Group is in the “unique position” to draw people at large “to tackle this issue together”, and its partnership will facilitate “a much greater social impact”.
“It has the access and logistics that we need to make the scheme a success at a time when the need is so high, and is committed to the same long-lasting, sustainable and meaningful change that we built our charity for,” added Hill.
The second phase of the partnership will see surplus food collected from the estate and included in new hot meals at Felix Kitchen in nearby Poplar, to be distributed to local community organisations.
Shobi Khan, chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, said that the company understands it has “a responsibility to create a positive and lasting impact that goes beyond the buildings we create” and that the company’s purpose is “to bring people together to enhance lives, now and in the future.”
He added: “The business community at Canary Wharf has a big part to play in making the Felix Project a success, and indeed some of our local companies are already on board, including Morgan Stanley and Barclays. With such a concentration of retail and office businesses on the estate, a key part of our role as partner will be to introduce the charity to our wider community and bring the scale that is needed to have a real, lasting effect on local people’s lives.
“We have so many people who can play their part, whether they work, live or regularly visit here, and I urge anyone willing to spare a couple of hours to sign up to volunteer and help us get surplus food to those who need it the most.”
The scheme is open to all volunteers, from office workers and residents to visitors. Click here for more details.
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