EMERGENCY
RESPONSE
KITCHEN
Fooditude’s response to the COVID 19 crisis
COVID-19 put the brakes on what we love doing the most – bringing happiness with tasty meals. When we had to close our kitchen on the 23rd March 2020, our team really wanted to help with what we had at our disposal – a large 20,000 sq ft kitchen and the ability to cook fresh, delicious meals. On the 2nd April we decided to kick off our Covid-19 Emergency Response Kitchen.
A group of volunteer chefs from our team used our premises to cook delicious and nutritious packed meals twice a week for the most vulnerable and isolated people in our local community. We distributed this food through our friends, Foodcycle and BermondseyEST.
The London Borough of Southwark, where our kitchen is located, was one of the worst hit areas of the UK from the virus in the first few weeks of the pandemic. The need was clear, as we were being approached by more and more organisations and community centres to feed those who were lonely, shielding due to long term illness or on account of being at higher risk, just not able to afford purchasing ingredients or were unable to access them due to issues with supplies.
By July 2020, we had worked with several organisations to distribute over 37,000 meals – an average of 2,500 meals a week:
- Foodcycle Norwood
- Bermondsey EST
- BEDE Centre
- Dickens Estate Tenants and Residents Association
- Rennie and Manor Tenants and Residents Association
- Pedworth Sheltered Housing Units
- Silverlock Sheltered Housing Unit
- Homes 4 Heroes
- St George, The Martyr Church
- London Senior Social
- Age UK
- Blackfriars Settlement
- Pembroke House & Walworth Living Room
- Rockgrove Way Retirement Housing
- King Charles Court SHU
- Lucy Brown House SHU
- Avondale Square SHU
At the beginning of December, we brought some Christmas cheer to these residents and served about 1100 meals.
January to July 2021
- In January 2021, we worked on a smaller scale with Pembroke House and Walworth Community Food Distribution Centre to provide ready vegetarian meals every week from January to July 2021, serving nearly 6300 meals.
In numbers
- 47,000 nutritious vegetarian meals served
- £6000 raised from family and friends of Fooditude
- 2 grants received from Southwark Winter Funds Grant and Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation
January to July 2021
- In January 2021, we worked on a smaller scale with Pembroke House and Walworth Community Food Distribution Centre to provide ready vegetarian meals every week from January to July 2021, serving nearly 6300 meals.
In numbers
- 47,000 nutritious vegetarian meals served
- £6000 raised from family and friends of Fooditude
- 2 grants received from Southwark Winter Funds Grant and Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation
Legacy
Our true passion for engaging with our local community was the driving force to set up this emergency response. Our team was thrilled when we were recognised in a few important ways:
🏆 A Community Engagement Award by The Planet Mark in 2021.
📝 A mention in Big Issue magazine – see here
📺 An invitation for Dean Kennett, our MD to join the BBC Masterchef episode recognising hospitality heroes who fed frontline staff or those in need during the COVID crisis.