Why homemade meals?
The foodbank provision was the cheapest and most efficient way to get food to those in need, so why bother with the expense and hassle of cooked food? This came I think from a shared interest, between myself and the three ladies who run Bread n Butter. There was something basic about healthy people being more physically resilient if they got ill, but that was only a small part of our motivation. To cook good quality food for someone, is to show them that they matter, and that you care. I think people often shy away from using the word love in professional settings, but for me as a charity leader, I want love and fun to be used and demonstrated in all that we do. I think in 2020 we definitely did that – whilst challenging our selves we laughed (sometimes cried), and showed love and care for those in-need, as well as for each other. Throughout the year I ate the food we cooked for lunches, testing and giving feedback where we needed to tweak and improve. I have to say that the food we created really was something special! The quality overall was truly amazing, which was thanks to Bread n Butter, and then later in the year Vishal of V’s Kitchen, who took over the kitchen operations.
Very quickly our operation moved beyond just the homemade meals. As we linked up with more and more partners, and increased our ambient and cold storage, we were able to become more of a hub, where we could store and share food, trying to get it to who needed it most, at just the right time. Our Centre Manager John really coordinated the majority of this – somehow taking the right action at the right time, and humouring me whilst I kept trying to expand the operations – adding more fridges/freezers/shelving/volunteers etc. We became the largest Barnet-based charity-led food and essentials operation, and with the help of so many organisations with deep roots into their local communities, were able to help huge numbers of people.
Our little operation grew and grew over the initial months. We expanded our team, and received huge amounts of help from so many individuals and organisations. I’ll highlight a few here, without whose help we could simply not have achieved what we did:
Hadley Trust – Gave us our first £10,000 project funding.
Felix Project – Provided the majority of the surplus food we used, though we built up a large number of sources as the year progressed.
Goodmans Autos – Lent us two vans completely free of charge. We still have one of them now, going into 2021!
Barnet Council – Donated lots of second hand catering equipment to expand our capacity, and provided food through their food hub.
Roger’s Removals – Transported this equipment to us for free, and then did several other jobs for us as well.
Our absolute peak was week commencing 18th May, during which we provided the equivalent of 5,658 meals, right across Barnet and into Harrow, Brent, and I believe Camden & Tottenham as well that week!
After August we slowed down a bit, not least because OneStonegrove was again open, and so we needed to balance the everyday operations and additional safety measures, against the ongoing needs of those we were supporting. We were successful with a funding bid that allowed us to employ a Food Projects Coordinator from September onwards, which brought about the next stage of our project.
Fast forward to now, we are supporting almost as many people as at our peak, and we are sharing out as much food weekly as we ever have. The operation looks very different though – Rachel our new staff member runs it all whilst working only two days per week, so it’s much more efficient, and we can’t take the “we’ll get food to anyone that needs it” approach that we took early in 2020. Beyond the efficiency she’s bought something else to our work as well, through the partnerships and relationships that she arrived with, and has continued to develop, she has brought more beauty and love to what we send out. Alongside the food there’s been handwritten cards, painted pebbles, knitted and baked items, and much much more. Our packages are designed to provide some light in what is a dark time for so many, to bond people together and to create community where it might seem there is none.
Because clearly what we needed was some additional work to do in the lead up to Christmas, we decided to partner on an event called Warmer Winters, highlighted in this Sky News article. In the week commencing 20th December and finishing Christmas Eve, 33,000 meals were cooked and shared with partner organisations, which were then delivered to those who needed them. With this frankly bonkers week which I think almost killed our small team, we sat down we worked out that in 2020 we had achieved the following:
- 135,000 meals equivalent shared with those in need.
- 95+ community groups partnered with. Mostly us sharing food with them, but also signposting, sharing resources, skills and ideas, and more.
- 225+ volunteers, giving over £125,000 worth of time.
- Over £100,000 worth of surplus food shared.
- Regular weekly phone calls to 10-15 people since March, and still continuing.
- Secured donated goods and services worth over £30,000.
- Raised over £80,000, including £12,000 from individuals, and a £5,000 corporate donation.
What next? Part 3 of the Blog is what comes next – the final part where I share what we know about what 2021 will bring for us as a charity, and as the OneStonegrove centre…